Desert Trails
by Whiven
Summary: A criminal from Suna needs to be taken to Konoha to receive his just desserts but sometimes it's never that simple, especially when you end up being hunted down because of it. Shikamaru x Temari Sakura x Lee Tenten x Neji
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes: This is my first _submission_, not my first story and certainly not my best story. The other story I have is called... 'Loving Eachother' (or maybe something else once I'm done fine tuning the details) and that one is very good. I actually had to rewrite this thing because I felt so badly about the first version. I feel _alot _more comfortable with the speed it's going at and it isn't as choppy. I hope you enjoy it and that you appreciate the hard work! I _do_ plan on having this turn into an action based story of sorts, but it needs to start with a basic storyline set-up so that you can learn what exactly is going on. I don't think too highly of it, but if you do, please tell me, thank you and enjoy!**

**P.S. Ninja can be both singular and plural, despite the common use of the word ninjas, I am choosing to use ninja for the plural form. **

_**Disclaimer:**_

_I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege._

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Everybody heard Shikamaru as he spoke to the whole group. "Just a few more hours and we'll set up camp for the night." _And it's about time too... A few more waves of the enemy will probably be a bit too much, even for us._ It had been ten hours, and the constant attacks had been slowly wearing everybody down. Even Gai and Lee had been too tired to be optimistic. Ever since a prisoner was captured at the land of Suna, problems had been so abundant it left everybody feeling a little cranky.

---Flash Back---

Gai's team as well as Shikamaru and Sakura, one for tactical analysis and the other for medical assistance should it be required, had been asked to go to Suna for an important mission. It had taken a couple days, but when they arrived, they were met about a mile away from the border by unknown forces ranging from simple thugs to expert ninja. After an hour of fighting and running through the various camps and they made it to Suna and after showing the guards the right I.D. they ventured into the City to see the Kazekage. Using more words than necessary, Gaara explained that there was a prisoner that they needed to transfer to Konoha. Although little was said about the prisoner besides his name, a few things were made crystal clear. One, this was a very influential prisoner who was not to be trusted in any way, shape, or form. Two, he has many men after him and the group would constantly be pursued to free him. Finally three, he was an evil man, and failure was not an option.

---Flash Back Ends---

That had been thirty four hours ago, and they were being led from village to village by Temari and Kankuro who were asked by Gaara to lead them through the Land of Wind until they could get back to land that would be more familiar to the leaf ninja. So far this had kept them from a few fights that would have slowed them down when they stopped in a village that had guards of their own that helped them take care of the attackers. They had to rush through picking up what little supplies they needed before heading out again into the desert to avoid plaguing the village with their pursuers. After that they had moved nonstop to stay ahead of the theives and ninjas that followed and had done such a good job of it that now they were followed by next to no enemies and only faced the few ninjas who were fast enough to keep up and strong willed enough to keep moving well past a day. It was again becoming dark and the sand siblings sans the youngest needed a break to rest and get their bearings straight.

"It's nice to finally catch a break," Kankuro had finally spoken up after the hours of quiet whispering between him and Temari about the directions of the villages and deciding the best route with her, "maybe those other ninja aren't as strong as we thought. We might just get out of this yet to see this bastard get his just desserts." He pointed towards the bound and gagged man Sakura had been carrying. "It'd be nice to see him being on the losing side for once." He said this with a smile that made all of the leaf ninja shudder.

Lee was the first to speak this time. "How can one man command such a great army? He is obviously not a Kage or a missing ninja, so what is he?" Both sand ninja stared at him like he had grown a second head. "You're kidding, right? You mean you've never heard of Tsurugi of the Wind? He's almost as evil as Orochimaru, hell he may be worse!" All of the shinobi's jaws dropped as if completely dumb struck. "What!?" Everybody jumped as they heard an impact, and everybody got into a circle formation as they all expected to face the new enemy, only to find that Sakura has lost her footing in the sand when she wasn't focusing and had fallen sending both her and her burden flying head first into a dune. Lee was the first by her side after realizing that she was the cause of the ruckus and was helping her out and brushing sand off of her back, a blush on his face as his hand accidently brushed the lower back of her clothes. After checking to make sure that Sakura and Tsurugi weren't hurt, they decided to set up their camp there since they had planned on setting up camp soon anyway.

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After tieing the man down to a pole they half buried in the ground to hold him they started questioning the siblings again. "So, what exactly made him so infamous?" It was Neji this time who spoke up. Both siblings had a confused look on their face "What? Made who infamous?" Tenten answered, "Tsurugi. You said that he was as infamous as Orochimaru, but as far as I know, we've never heard of a man named Tsurugi before, so what made him so special? He doesn't even seem to have much skill as a ninja, if any skill at all." This earned a muffled indignate grunt from the bound man. "Oh yeah, well, he was a criminal from Konoha who moved to the land of Suna after being hunted." Gai interrupted before she could continue "But, none of us have seen him before. I have been keeping track of every criminal in the Hokage Tower, memorized every name, and Tsurugi isn't a name I have ever heard before in Konoha or the Konoha Police Station before the Uchiha Massacre." Temari answered this time "You shouldn't. He changed his name soon after he left Konoha. His name before he left was Tenzan Borgen." Gai turned incredibly pale "You mean, _THE _Tenzan Borgen? As in the guy who helped Orochimaru? The corrupted man who practically bankrupt Konoha?" Both sand ninja nodded. "He ran away with so much gold, I didn't think he would ever resurface! How was he caught!? When!? Where!?" "Gai-sensei!" Both Lee and Neji were trying to hold him down. "Please calm down and tell us who he is."

"We have all learned alot about Orochimaru, he's done terrible experiments on human beings, attempted to destroy Konoha, and even killed the Third Hokage..." At this everybody nodded, some with sad looks in their eyes. "Well, Tenzan is the one who made Orochimaru what he is. He might have eventually followed the same path, but Tenzan took Orochimaru under his wing and made it his purpose in life to use Orochimaru as a crooked ninja who would protect him and hide the traces of his dirty dealings. In exchange for Orochimaru's protection, Tenzan gave him the money he needed to create his labratories and even helped him find civilians who had an idea of his deal so that he could protect Orochimaru from the public eye and protect himself as long as possible." Seven pairs of eyes bore down on the man who was now tied to a post, wishing the worst kind of death on him humanly possible. "But, that is not all." All eyes focused back on the usually over-enthusiastic jounin as he continued his story. "When Orochimaru was caught red-handed and ninja were sent to try to catch him, Tenzan took all of the gold from the Konoha treasury he could using a few corrupt ninja to help him carry the ill-gotten gains out and away from Konoha. The last anybody had heard, he was being chased by some trackers who were after the missing ninja that were with him. But they were unable to find any of them."

Temari continued. "And that's where our story comes in. He continued his criminal life under a new name and took control of many villages while hiring hundreds of ninja, thieves, and mercenaries to keep control of the villages. We rarely find out about villages under his control because the people are rarely ever able to accumulate money for our services, and even fewer are able to get away without being killed in the process. About two weeks ago we received a mission from a village nearby, requested by an 'anonymous citizen.' Apparently there had been fleeing criminals who left with large amounts of gold and jewels from the village's richer district. Although the money would have supposedly been hidden so that they could eventually come back for it, the criminals were wanted killed by the employer. They weren't criminals though, and the chuunin team we sent was able to figure it out. After placing the fugitives from the crime lord into a nearby outpost of Suna, they went back in and captured Tenzan. His employees soon learned about it and chased after the chuunin and employer all the way up until they reached our walls. We've been holding off their attacks and sent a messenger bird as well as a few courier ninja to get the message to Konoha, and were then ordered to stay there until Tenzan was brought to Konoha."

"How is it that so many remain loyal to him after he has been captured. Most men, ninja and mercenary alike, are smart enough to realize when it's pointless to chase after an uncertain flow of money. Why would they chase him still?" Neji asked, this time staring at the man in question.

"Unlike most crime lords, he didn't lie, threaten, or pretend to be something he wasn't with his employees. He controlled them with money. When he left Konoha with the ninja, he didn't carry gold like most would, he carried it by sealing bricks of it in scrolls, and carried the scrolls in backpacks, he left with more than a Kage's ransom worth of currency." Gai had spoken grimly this time, suprising his students. "He crippled Konoha like none but Orochimaru himself. It wasn't recorded in our history and was hidden from the public, but most Jounin and higher knew about it. I learned about it from my sensei after complaining about the many missions we had to endure at that time."

After recovering from his shock, Neji spoke up once more "But you still didn't answer the question, how could that affect what's happening _after_ he was captured?" It looked like a fire inside of him cooled slightly when he heard the question again. "He set a bounty for his own life just in case something like this happened. It states that if he is ever captured, the person who frees him will receive Two-hundred _million_ yen."

"We had trouble with guards trying to rescue him after he told them about his offer to save him. Kankuro and I were told to keep guard since we could be trusted not to take him up on such an offer. We requested the most loyal of Konoha to aid us in his transfer. I'm glad it was you six." Temari added with a sincere smile. "I'm sorry, but we should rest for the night, Shikamaru, I'll trust you with deciding the night watches, goodnight." With that Shikamaru quickly gave everybody their orders for the night and went to talk with Temari, while the rest went to sleep except for the two who had begun their shift of the night watch.

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"I know that we haven't seen the worst of what's to come..." Shikamaru spoke sadly. "Damn lazy ass... So you figured it out too, huh? You're right. We've faced a few enemies, but it's nothing compared to what's to come since we still have to get to the next two villages and I doubt enemy ninja will just let us walk in."

"So what kind of traps are you expecting? Explosive tags, weapon traps, or simply more ninjas?" Temari gave him a sigh and gave him a sad smile.

"Probably more ninja, but they would be able to ambush us easily. We're in a group and moving slowly. They can't use explosives or they might hit the bastard we're carrying, but that doesn't mean that they can't use other deadly tricks. Genjutsu and sand based ninjutsu will probably be the biggest problems. Besides them, we might not have to worry too much. But again, only the smarter ninja would come out this far which means we could be fighting alot worse odds and alot stronger opponents, you might even see a couple blood limits from Suna out here." Shikamaru paled, this was more troublesome than he expected. Although he expected this, hearing another confirm it was just as much, if not more, disturbing.

"Thank you Temari, you and I should both try to find an easier path or think of another option tonight, we'll discuss what we can in the morning. Goodnight" He smiled warmly and bowed before leaving to get some rest. She smiled as he walked off thinking of what she would do to him if they were left alone, which was quickly followed by a blush when she caught herself. "Goodnight Shikamaru."

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**That is it for this chapter! I hope you have liked it. The next chapter is well under progress (more or less) and there is an action scene either in the next chapter or the one after it. This is not exactly a great start (it's pretty slow I admit), and I'm open to criticism/advice if you can give it without turning it into an all out flame. PLEASE REVIEW!!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, Whiven here, just wanted to say that I had this one ready to add on since the beginning, but due to 'technical difficulties, my damn computer decided to erase the whole chapter and half I had written until now and I had to rewrite the WHOLE thing. You will see a little bit of everybody at one point or another... except maybe Gai, he's a bit tough to use sometimes since he doesn't really pair up with anybody, even though he fights just almost as well as Lee in this story. Almost as strong because Lee has trained more and more**

**Oh! I forgot to put when this is, and even though it is kinda hard to tell, this is at least after the three year time skip (that much is obvious) so from there I'll let you guess (either that or I don't know either and am just stalling til next chapter to tell you, mwahahaha.) Either way, it's disclaimer time!**

****

Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.

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Troublesome... that's the best way to describe the situation of waking up in the position they were in. Shikamaru had fallen asleep in the same place he had gone to sleep the first time, but when he woke up it seemed as though he had slept for days straight and felt comfortable enough to just go back to sleep, but once he realized _why_, any ideas of sleep had gone out the window. He may have gone back to his own sleeping bag to sleep, but Temari had decided to sleep next to him so she could sleep better, hence why the two had slept so peacefully, and why Shikamaru was now redder than the deepest shade Hinata had ever managed. Not only had Temari decided to sleep next to him, but she also slept with him _in_ the sleeping bag and had managed to curl up against his chest comfortably despite the lack of extra room in the sleeping bag itself. He had been sleeping more comfortably lately, but for her to get into his sleeping bag without him noticing would take nothing short of a comatose state... or a medical jutsu made to put patients asleep during operations... Shikamaru sent a dark look toward the pink-haired girl who was still asleep on the opposite side of the camp site. "This is so troublesome..." He closed his eyes as he started pretending he was asleep and hadn't noticed the blond that had buried her face in his chest with her hair sticking out of the sleeping bag.

Ten minutes later the group started to wake up one by one as they all started their morning routines, all except for Shikamaru who was still trying to figure out how to get out of the bag without waking Temari, Temari herself, and Kankuro who had had the second to shift with Tenten. His eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he suddenly realized the threat of the sibling who lay sleeping nearby, and what the puppeteer could do to him if he saw the two in that position. "Don't worry, he might very well be the one who suggested it." Shikamaru almost jumped when he heard the weapon master's voice. "Shhhh... I don't want to wake either of them, where's Gai and Lee? They had the last shift didn't they?" Shikamaru whipsered, he had been the one to assign everybody their turn, knowing the two's preference to early mornings he gave them both that shift. "Yes, they get in their early morning warm ups right about now, so if I had to guess, I would say they were running laps around the perimeter of the camp until everybody is awake." Shikamaru decided to put that into his 'for future reference' file in his memory. Just before he could ask Tenten when breakfast would be made the blonde who shared his sleeping bag started groaning and moaning as she started to stretch while waking up. Tenten grinned evily and walked away as Shikamaru pleaded with his eyes for help.

"So, comfortable?" Shikamaru turned pale, but didn't answer, even as she grinned. "Either way, would you mind moving your hand?" He didn't give it much thought at first and shifted his hand feeling something soft and warm as he moved his hand back to his side. "Much better, I'm pretty sure that Kankuro wouldn't appreciate you groping my butt." Shikamaru once more turned red as he realized what that warm soft thing was his hand had been on. "How troublesome... Can you please move so I can get something to eat?" Temari pouted at this but did what he asked, but before he had gotten all the way out of the bag and stood up he said, "Oh, and next time, please let your hair down, I almost ended up with a mouthful of hair when I woke up earlier." Temari's pout changed into a smile as she understood the hidden message in his words.

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Temari and Shikamaru spoke their thoughts and ideas back and forth while Sakura fed Borgen, again having to endure the assault on their ears as he yelled profusely until Sakura threatened to not feed him again until they made it back to Konoha. He shut up and obediently followed orders glaring daggers at his captors.

After finishing up with the loud-mouthed man, Sakura grabbed the food she had been making for herself, but accidently dropped most of her breakfast when Tenzan 'accidently' tripped her when she was passing by. Lee couldn't help but notice and offer his help. "You can have my breakfast Sakura, I am not hungry," he said while holding his breakfast up to her so she could take it, "I had eaten enough yesterday and am still full from last night." Sakura visibly brightened as she accepted the food, "Thank you, Lee." he was obviously lying since he had eaten just as much as everybody else and hadn't even eaten all of that since he had eaten at the town they had been at most recently, but she couldn't help but blush at the shows of affection he had always, and still was, giving to her. And her blush multiplied as he kissed her cheek when nobody was looking.

The two of them had gotten much closer over the years, this was mostly because Lee was constantly visiting the Konoha Hospital, and Sakura had practically become his personal doctor after a while. Lee had asked her time and again while he was in the hospital if she would go out with him and after a while she had decided to say yes, that is to say, their date was supposed to have been the day before, but they were given a mission instead. Lee had been pouting the whole way to Suna, but had accepted her promise that they would have the day to themselves the next chance they had. Thankfully nobody noticed the blush since they were too focused on listening to what the two strategists had in mind for their travel route.

"I say we each split up and enter the village from different sides while using a transformation jutsu to get in undetected, they wouldn't know it's us so we wouldn't have to worry." Temari said. Shikamaru nodded at this but still came up with a hole in the plan. "You're forgetting two things. One is the most obvious, while we may be willing to use a transformation to get in there, Mr. Tsurugi over here is probably going to try to get as much attention as possible so he can escape, and we can't use anything to really disguise him no matter what we do." Temari sighed in defeat. "That's one problem, but what's the other? I know what you're saying is true, but I still can't help being curious."

"We aren't dealing with normal ninja, they are still thieves and crooks, they'll most likely attack anybody they find on the road. All we would be doing is splitting our fighting force for the slight chance of a useless suprise." He stated matter-of-factly.

Temari gave him an annoyed look because of his attitude. "Well if you're so smart, why are we still going with something _I_ suggested." Shikamaru brought his hand to his face as he mentally groaned before answering, "Fine you're right. Just remember, the oasis may be a shorter route and we may be able to refill our water, but any ninja who were willing to chase us this far are probably setting up their camp there since it's far enough from the city to not be seen, but is close enough to it to get there in time to set up traps. Any shinobi worth his shuriken wouldn't leave a resource like that unguarded." Temari sighed. "Okay, let's head to the oasis. They probably don't know that Kankuro and I are in your group so they won't expect us to know about the it. Add to that the fact that we can always have Neji check for us just in case and we shouldn't have a problem. Worst case scenario is that we'll end up spending more time heading back to the city if it turns out this is a bad idea." Shikamaru nodded, there wasn't really that much of a problem with the plan, and if it worked they might get ahead of those chasing them since they would end up waiting for them at the city until the next day.

"Okay, Sakura, Lee, Gai, and Kankuro need to erase all signs of our camping site, while Tenten and I will get the equipment together. Neji and Temari, I need you two find as much of our path as possible, both front and back, to check for traps and erase our path up until now." Everybody sounded their acknowledgment and quickly did what they could. Within ten minutes the only thing left was the post in the ground which was quickly fixed as Gai slammed his fist on the top of it sending it deep into the ground leaving a hole that filled itself with sand.

"Sakura, would you like me to carry that man for you? You should not have to carry around the extra weight if you are the medic, and you still have to carry your medical supplies, too" Lee said, trying hard to pretend he was honestly just trying to simply be helpful. "Thank you Lee, but are you sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not Sakura, he is not that heavy and it is unfair to have one person carry around all of the extra weight." He said flashing his famous, borderline infamous, good guy smile. She couldn't help but giggle slightly before handing the bound man over to the Gai look-alike. He had been treating her even more kindly lately and it was starting to rub her the right way to the point where she was starting to wonder why she still hadn't actually gone out with him before.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say he was already sleeping with her the way he treats her so nicely." Tenten whispered to Neji. Neji just looked at the couple ahead of them as they walked over the dunes and barely managed to nod. Tenten saw this and smiled, "Bet you wish they weren't the only ones doing iton this trip." "WHAT!?" Neji looked at her with a face that had embaressment written all over it. "Huh, what's wrong Neji?" Neji turned to look the other way and saw Temari, Shikamaru, Kankuro, and Gai giving him weird looks. "I-it's nothing Gai-sensei." This was quite honestly one of the first times anybody had seen Neji of all people thoroughly embarrassed. Tenten whispered into his ear as he started to calm down, "You know, I was just kidding about that, right?" Neji nodded barely enough to be acknowledged. "Well, maybe if we didn't have company I would consider going out with you." Neji knew better than to bite this bait, but couldn't help letting a slight upward twitch of his lips show that he had somewhat liked the idea. Ever since Naruto had gotten back with that perverted hermit, he had been playing match maker with just about everybody from the last chuunin exam. He even managed to get Ino and Chouji together, which actually worked out amazingly well. "Only if you promise not to embarrass me again." Tenten faked a pout, "Aww, okay, but you have to take me someplace nice." Neji was glowing with joy and pride, but managed to keep his emotionless mask on as he answered, "Deal."

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"What do you think she said to him over there?" Temari had been completely oblivious to what had been going on between everybody. "If my guess it right, I think Tenten was just teasing him with an offer or something along those lines." Gai stated while he watched Tenten lean over towards Neji's ear again. "I think that by the end of this mission those two are going to be a couple." Gai seemed almost saddened by this.

"Well, what's wrong with a little love? I'd think it was a good thing, especially between teammates." Kankuro said, adding his two cents. "It is a great and youthful thing, but," Gai looked down sadly, "I was hoping that I would have had somebody to share my youthfulness with before it disappeared, but seeing my team falling in love like this... Maybe I'm not as youthful as I used to be."

Shikamaru had a worried look as his gaze went between Gai's team and the brooding man himself. "Maybe, but while you lose the power of youth, you gain the wisdom of age." Temari said trying to cheer Gai up. It didn't do much, but it definitely got him out of his mental cocoon and he managed a smile. "And as we all know, 'knowledge is power', so maybe it's not that bad. Hell if you get to be as old as Sarutobi was then we may have to force you into retirement before you take all of the good missions." Temari said trying her best to cheer the jounin up as much as she could while he was listening. Gai laughed at this, he may have been getting old, but he was still as light-hearted as he had been when he first met his students. "Thank you, Temari, you are right."

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"Everybody wait here. We're going to need to check out the oasis before we use it to make suer there's nothing wrong with it. Neji and Tenten, can you two come with me?" The two nodded and followed him over the dune that hid them from the oasis in the distance. "Okay let's go." All three vanished as they made their way to the water surrounded by palm trees. "You think they'll be okay? I mean they are good, but what if they're ambushed?" Sakura said. "Don't worry, Shikamaru knows what he's doing. He picked Neji for that very reason. If there's an ambush, he'll see it." Gai said with his famous good guy grin. Tenzan was still kicking up a storm and kept trying to kick his way out of Lee's grip. "Tenzan, I will give you two choices. One is that you will stop kicking around. The second is that you keep kicking and I'll knock you out the painful way." Tenzan rolled his eyes and yelled some profanity into the cloth covering his mouth before kicking twice as hard. "Fine." Lee took Tenzan off of his shoulder and apologized before slamming his fist into the man's stomache. "That should keep him quiet for a while." He said as the man crumpled over and he was placed on Lee's back again.

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"You don't see anything up there? Nothing at all?" Shikamaru asked again. "For the fifth and final time, no. There are no traps hidden in the water or under the surface of the sand, and there are no people anywhere nearby. Now go back and tell everybody so we can refill everything and get moving. The sooner we get back to Konoha the better." Shikamaru had a troubled look. "Okay, I'll be back in fifteen minutes with everybody else, just wait here until we get back, okay?" Neji and Tenten nodded as Shikamaru turned around and left at an all out run. Neji's eyes still had the tell-tale signs of an activated Byakugan as he turned back around to Tenten who had been smiling at him since the moment Shikamaru had turned around. "You know, we do have fifteen minutes to ourselves now..." She said with a seductive voice, "We could--" She didn't get the chance since at that moment Neji's eyes went wide and he tackled her. "Neji!? What the hell are you doing!?" She didn't get an answer, but was instead yanked back off the ground and pulled out of the way of a spike of sand that appeared out of the ground. "We have company."

**_Mwahahahaha cliffy time! Try to guess what's happening, review often, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Not all the updates will come as quickly as this one, but you can expect the next one soon. Alot of action coming soon, til then ja ne!_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Whiven here yet again, just figured I should tell you that this is going to be an action scene (yay for action.) The names of the jutsus used will be in English only (mostly because it's easier than jumping between another site with translations and my writing, and since I'm not fluent enough in Japanese.) I know I told you when this is taking place so here goes. This story takes place three years after the time skip making everybody between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, except for Gai who is now officially thirty-two. Now that that's outta the way, enjoy!**_

**_Jumps up with a giant generic stamp with a white tiger symbol on it and stamps the disclaimer onto the fanfic._**

_**Disclaimer:**_

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.**_

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Neji dove forward to avoid more of those spires while pushing Tenten to the side just in time to avoid a hole that spot of sand that started churning in a circular motion. "Tenten, run to the water!" She didn't even bother nodding, but instead ran as fast as she could to the oasis water staying on the ground as little as possible. As soon as she was standing on the water she turned around to see Neji dodging and and weaving between the spires that shot from the ground and went back down before rising again somewhere else. "Tenten, look up!" He yelled between dodges. Tenten looked up to see an eyeball in the air watching the fight below. She pulled out a kunai and sent it flying at the eye.

Neji was dodging back and forth between the spikes of sand intent on killing him. Finally six spires appeared around him and curved back down while caging him inside. "Heavenly Spin!" Neji started to spin rapidly destroying all of the spires attack him, and even stopping some of the attacks from below. He prepared for the next wave, but it didn't come again. He focused his attention up but didn't see the object he had noticed earlier and looked over to the water to see a Tenten smiling. "It's not over yet, Tenten! Kunai with tags there, there, and there!" Tenten didn't know what he was doing, but sent kunai with explosive tags attached in the places he pointed out as he ran to her side on top of the water. Just before the tags blew up, heads started coming out of the sand receiving the full brunt of the blasts easily killing six of the ninja by decapitation and three others from the concussive blast. Three managed to avoid the explosions and had risen out of the sand completely glaring at the two. "We may be in a little trouble here."

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"So no enemies at all? You checked everything?" Kankuro was still unsure, he had talked long and hard about this with Temari while they were waiting and he was just as sure there was a trap as Shikamaru and Temari now. "Yes, we checked the water for traps and poison, we checked the surface of the sand for half buried traps, and checked almost a quarter mile in every direction, nothing at all." Kankuro thought about this. "Okay, what about below ground? Did you check deep underground?" Shikamaru gave him a confused look. "Why would we look deep underground?" Kankuro's eyes went wide as he started a mad dash back towards the oasis. Temari was about to follow, but instead helped everybody get ready first while explaining.

"There's a form of ambush that's well known in Suna to silently kill any size group of ninja, from small scout groups to entire armies. The ninja create a third eye out of sand using a jutsu developed for spying. Then they hide deep underground and use intertwined or thickened chakra strings to keep lines of air flowing down and to create a whirlpool-like areas in the sand to suck the enemies down. If for some chance the enemy doesn't get caught in it, they use the chakra strings to create spikes of sand to kill off whoever was lucky enough to survive, then they simply create vortexes in the sand again to pull down the remains so that it would appear as if nothing happened. Not only that, but they can use some weird jutsu to rise out of the sand and fight themselves if they can't kill everybody. They are nearly impossible to kill because even if they can't kill you from underground, their chakra control and reserves are so huge due to the amount needed for this type of ambush, that they could even give Naruto a run for his money if there were enough of them." Temari took a deep breath after she had finished the explanation. Even the long winded would be out of breath after an explanation like that. Shikamaru on the other hand was looking worried as he sped everybody up as everybody started to walk faster, and then start sprinting.

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"How long do we have until the others get here again?" Tenten asked while watching the one that had picked her as the target. "Eight more minutes", he said as his back against hers as he stared at the two opponents who were watching him carefully. "Think you can get the three of them together?" Neji asked. "Depends on whether or not you're going to help me out or not." she answered with a knowing grin.

Tenten three kunai at the man in front of her. The ninja easily dodged to the right and smirked as if to say 'that's it?' but his smirk turned to a frown when he saw her pull her hands back into the air and turned just in time to see the kunai had turned back around towards him and duck under them. Tenten easily caught all three again as was the one smirking this time. She tossed the three again to the left, right, and above the ninja as she twisted her arms and head in a clockwise direction. The enemy barely had time to see the wires that were threatening to wrap, or even cut, him up in time to dodge again. He went through four quick seals as he yelled "Sand Shuriken" and sand rose all around him and aimed themselves at the girl who had been attacking from the water. "Wow, you really should try to aim for me, here's how you do it." She reared her arms back and sent a handful of shuriken at the ninja before shouting out a jutsu. "Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" The handful quickly turned into an army which tore through the ninja who just as quickly turned into sand afterwards. "What? Where the hell did he go!?" She turned around just in time to see a dragon shaped wave of sand charge towards her. "Tenten get out of the way!" She didn't move, she just stared wide-eyed unable to move, stunned by the sheer size of it.

"Heavenly Spin!" The dragon fell apart less than ten feet away as Neji jumped in front of the dragon and spun rapidly sending sand everywhere but to it's target. "Sand Shuriken" He heard the two he was fighting yell as the sand that had been blown away reformed into shuriken that went after Tenten. "Tenten watch out!" She seemed too preoccupied with the ninja that had gotten within inches of her in seconds, and was attacking her all out in hand-to-hand taijutsu, to notice the two groups of shuriken until they hit their mark. "Tenten!" Poof. "What the...?" In the place of where Tenten had been standing was the ninja she was fighting. "A replacement!" The ninja fell to his knees as the holes in his body bled rapidly.

"Damn you! Chiba, let's go." The female ninja shouted as she started going though "Okay, Miharu" As he followed her seal for seal until they both ended "Earth Style: Entwined Sand Dragons!" The ground beneath Tenten and Neji quaked for a second right before a giant mass of sand burst upward out of the ground, barely missing the target. This was quickly fixed as the body split in two and the two heads turned and chased after Neji and Tenten.

"How did it do that!?" Tenten yelled as she made a run for the male ninja named Chiba, tossing everything she could at him to break his concentration, but not succeeding. "Neji follow me!" He gave Tenten a confused look, but did as she said. He started running beside her as the other dragon followed. "Neji, do you think the three pronged can beat the two pronged?" She asked, trying to hide the question from the other prying ears. Neji nodded understand what she was saying. "On three. One. Two. Three." Neji and Tenten spun in a circle tossing three explosive tags between and to either side of the sand dragon heads, decapitating the dragons and defeating the jutsu.

"H-how the hell did they do that!?" Miharu dashed over to Chiba and they both started going through hand seals once again but were brought to a halt when a rain of shuriken, kunai, daggers, and every other imaginable weapon started landing around them and on top of them. "Dammit, why can't you two konoha brats just die already!" This only led Tenten to continue her Twin Rising Dragons more fervently. Suddenly the attack stopped, but before the two could start attacking all the weapons around them started shift before coming out of the ground and circling the two. "The girl's using wire to control them, try to hit the wires!" Chiba said. Both of the shinobi being attacked by the weapons mistress began throwing shuriken at the wires to try to break or catch them in with the shuriken they had with on them stop the girl's attack. It didn't work.

"I made these wires myself, there's no use trying to cut them!" Tenten yelled at the now worried looking ninja. "Just give up and we'll go easy on you." Chiba looked at Tenten with a look of pure defiance and anger. "You shut the hell up, bitch!" She screamed promptly giving her the finger. Her partner looked backwards so that he could speak to her since the two had moved into a back-to-back position earlier. "Could you please stop cursing Miharu? You know it bothers me when you do that, and I can't concentrate." She yelled five more curses at no one in particular as an answer. "Thank you. Let's go back underground, they can't touch us down there." Miharu nodded and went through a few seals as did Chiba. "Sinking Sand Ju--" They didn't finish. Instead the entire field was overcome by a voice that sounded mere feet away from where the two stood.

"Gentle Fist Style: Divine One-Hundred Twenty-Eight Strikes!" They both turned their heads staring wide-eyed at the Hyuga as he moved closer to them in the blink of an eye. "Two Strikes!" Chiba and Miharu each received a blow to the back stunning them both as Neji moved between the two. "Four Strikes!" He hit each of them two more times alternating back and forth between them while spinning. "Eight Strikes! Sixteen Strikes! Thirty-Two Strikes!" Tenten could see the pained looks on the two's faces as they were pounded on by the Hyuga prodigy. "Sixty-Four Strikes!" At this point Tenten could barely keep up with all of Neji's movements as he hit chakra point after chakra point time and time again. "One-Hundred Twenty-Eight Strikes!" He became nothing but a spinning blur as both of his victims flinched after they were hit time and again. Both Chiba and Miharu flew away as the final strike was laid simultaneously with one of Neji's palms in the place of where the two had been standing.

Miharu was the first to speak after trying to get up to no avail. "What the fuck did you do to us!? I can't move!" Miharu yelled at the white eyed ninja. Neji smirked and walked back to Tenten. "Are you alright Tenten?" She nodded as the other female ninja started fuming. "Damn it! Listen to me you bastard!" She looked over to the place where her partner was to find that he was missing. "What did you do to Chiba!?" Neji finally turned around, walked up to her and hit her in the back of the neck with some chakra added to his hand to knock her out. Neji audibly sighed. "I wonder what's taking the others so long to get here."

Kankuro appeared out of nowhere right in front of Tenten while she was searching for missed or extra weapons from the other team, shocking her enough to send her falling backwards. "Finally, took you long enough, we had one hell of a hard time fighting these guys." Kankuro gave her an ugly look. "Well, better late than never," he said sounding half offended, "Seems as though you had a pretty fun fight, though, are you both okay?" Neji nodded. "Yes, however... Kankuro, could you please help me with the interrogation of one of the ninja." "Kuroari, right?" Neji nodded. "Okay give me a second, in the mean time, can you tell me why this place looks like a war zone?" He said as he noticed the bloody stumps, half buried bodies, and beheaded heads from the explosions and the hole filled corpse of the ninja that had attacked Tenten earlier. "Oh yeah, that's kind of my fault." Tenten said before telling Kankuro the story of what happened.

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Kankuro stood in front of the group, retelling the story of what had happened while they were on the way since Tenten had decided to start refilling the water canteens and seal water into some scrolls for later use. "But, if all that happened, where did all of the bodies go?" Lee said, looking perplexed. "They're about thirty feet below your feet. I used the Sinking Sand Jutsu to make the bodies go back underground. The only ones not underground now are the two Neji crammed inside of Kuroari." Everybody looked at Kankuro with a look of amazement. "Which reminds me, Neji asked me to help him interrogate them in a minute, does he really know anything about interrogation?" Kankuro asked. "Yes he does. He hasn't done this recently, but last year he went on many missions with Ibiki to help interrogate some men. He was asked to help keep them incapacitated most of the time, but when they were awake, he watched Ibiki and learned as much as he could from him. He may not be quite as skilled as that man yet, but he's still more than capable of doing what needs to be done."

Kankuro's eyes went wide as he heard everything that was said. Ibiki was known to be the best at torture and interrogation. He had almost everybody quaking in their boots during the Chunin Exams those six or seven, he could never remember, years ago. He thought about this as he walked off to where his puppet sat next to the Jounin that Gai had been talking about.

Everybody watched from the other side of the oasis, which was actually quite large, as Neji spoke with Kankuro about something for a while. When they finished Kankuro nodded and walked the puppet with the ninja inside into the water, waited for ten seconds and walked it back out. This was almost instantly followed by profuse cursing and yelling.

Nobody could hear Neji, or the responses he seemed to get, but every now and then a look of anger would cross his face and he'd nod to Kankuro who would repeat the process with five more seconds added each time. Every time Kuroari would resurface the ritual of constant cursing and threats began again.

Finally he said something that seemed a bit longer than usual as everybody was was filling their canteens, and when he got angry this time he took a strange colored vial and poured it into one of the holes just before two screams pierced the air. Neji asked his question again and this time he got an answer that he liked. He half bowed and put his hand to the puppet's body before opening it and watching both of the ninja tumble out unconscious.

Kankuro took some ropes and tied the two to one of the nearby trees as Neji started coming over. Neji spoke as he came within hearing distance, "I have good news and I have bad news, which do you want to hear first?"

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**_Not quite a cliffy, but meh, it's good enough. So are you happy with that action scene, or do you want to see more fighting soon? What do you think the good news and bad news is? Betcha can't wait to see. The next few chapters are going to take more time than these last three since those two other took almost no time at all. I mostly made them that quickly because I knew exactly what I wanted to do to start and I wanted to make it long enough for people to be interested. PLEASE REVIEW! I really do care what you people want to say, and I desperately want to hear people's opinions. Anonymous or named I don't care, just speak and I'll be happy._**

**_P.S. There will be more action scenes, and they will be using two other people (or three, or four, not sure yet) so if you're complaining about a fight with only those two, don't start feeling bad just yet cause I plan on having more with the others._**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, I didn't get many reviews (at least not when I was writing this), but that's okay. It's time to continue everything, back ont he path to Konoha (yayness!) Not much else I can say this time. Just that you please review, I honestly want to se what you people think of this thing. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I am sorry for sounding desperate like that, but I really really do want reviews, and I don't get reviews often... or at all actually... so please review or you'll make lil Toby (N cry**

_**holds up a white tiger kitten with tears brimming on his eyes **_

**Come on have a heart and review!**

_**Jumps up with his giant generic stamp with a white tiger symbol on it and stamps the disclaimer onto the fanfic**_

_**Disclaimer:**_

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.**_

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"Good news or bad news? How troublesome. Okay let's start with the good news." Shikamaru stated looking a little anxious. "We are pretty far ahead of the rest of the ninja because we went nonstop. You were also right about the rest of the ninja heading off to the city to set up an ambush, and we won't have to worry about pursuit since they are planning on waiting there until tomorrow morning since they expect us to use the cover of night to enter the village." Neji said, lightening the mood of the young Nara. "See? This was a good idea." Temari said, making Shikamaru give her a slightly evil look. "You're forgetting he said he has bad news, so don't go patting yourself on the back just yet.

"He's right. They may have been tough to beat, but they apparently have two people that they are working for. One they said was from their normal organization, but the other..." Sakura cocked an eyebrow. "What about the other? Is there something special about him or something?" Neji nodded. "He is one of Orochimaru's experiments, one of the most lethal as far as they know. Then again nobody really knows much about him ever since he was beaten by Sasuke many years ago. These two didn't know much about him, but they do know that he is by far the most powerful of the two, and he leads his own little army of sound ninja on the side. They don't know how he found out, but he's after that bastard we're carrying like everybody else." Shikamaru visibly paled. "So two incredibly nightmarish and evil shinobi are after us, anything else?" Neji nodded again.

Before he could speak Kankuro walked up. "So are we ready to go now? Everybody filled everything up?" Everybody nodded. "Good, let's go, the last thing I want to do is get thirsty again since the water's poisoned." This time it was Temari's turn to cock an eyebrow. "I know this isn't a big important oasis or anything, but I'm pretty sure that somebody's going to use it besides those ninja." Kankuro held up his hands defensively "Don't worry it's one of the weak ones, the person will be a little sick for a while, plus it's going to disappear in a few days. We just need to buy as much time as possible. Those two ninja we beat are still out cold so we don't have to worry about them knowing. So like I said, can we go now?" Temari shook her head. He was pretty good with lethal poisons, but he didn't use nonlethal poisons often. The only nonlethal ones he used were the ones used for paralysis, and even they weren't that commonly used anymore.

"Okay, let's go. Temari, are there any other shortcuts you know of?" Temari shook her head. "I'm sorry, but the best I have for you is that we head straight to the Tree Village between our two borders, we can get help there since we seem to be in a little more trouble than we originally thought. We can expect some trouble there, but hopefully the village guards can help us. They have a ninja clan there that can help us, and we could really use a break from running." Everybody nodded in unison, they were tired of being chased. "So, how far away is it?" Tenten asked. She was by far the most tired of the group, because even though she wasn't fighting hand to hand that much in the previous fight, she was the one that ended up being the target for most of the attacks after the ninja had come up to fight. Temari shrugged. "It always took me about a day on foot, but since we are in a group this large, I would guess a little over that much even if we go at a quick pace." Tenten knew she shouldn't have asked.

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Seven hours of nonstop running, jogging, and leaping. The sand had slowly changed from barren to a slightly vegitated landscape, and from there it seemed to get greener and greener as they went. Although nobody was willing to admit it, they were all starting to feel very fatigued. Neji had offered Tenten help when she nearly tripped and fell, but she was more or less okay. Shikamaru had to help Temari keep her balance time and again when she started becoming tired since she was constantly erasing their tracks with her Cutting Whirlwind jutsu while they were in the desert and was a little low on chakra even though they were no longer on the dessert sands. Sakura had constantly helped Lee since he had volunteered to carry a few too many of her things and was having a hard time keeping it in his grip while keeping the same speed. Gai was more or less okay with the occasional smirk after seeing the three couples helping eachother. Kankuro, however, was probably suffering the most of everybody. Unlike the rest of the group, he had to carry three large scrolls on his back, and his attire was very efficient at absorbing every bit of warmth available during. He was sweating horribly and was carrying his equipment as well as the three overly large scrolls on his back. Add to that the fact that he didn't have nearly the same stamina as the others and it almost seemed as if it was a miracle that he was still standing.

"Okay, that's good enough for today. If we keep going like this there's no way this is going to end well." Shikamaru said, much to the relief of the group. Tenten was beaming with joy as she dropped her backpack and took a seat on the closest piece of even earth. Temari on the other hand wasn't as pleased. "What do you mean 'that's good enough'? We're so close to the city, so why stop now?" They were close to the city, much closer than Temari had seemed to think they would be. Shikamaru on the otherhand mumbled a couple 'troublesome's before answering. "If we were to go towards the city, there would no doubt be yet another trap. But this time we can't avoid it like we did last time. We have to face them, but at least we're fighting on something more familiar." Everybody but the sand siblings and their captive nodded with a smile. "But what we really need to be careful of is the clan who lives here. They aren't very trusting of others, that's why they still haven't joined a hidden village. They trust Konoha enough to aid them in times of need such as this, so we know they can help. Their clan skills allow them to borrow chakra from trees when fighting. They might be able to help us in this fight if we can't find a way to avoid trouble, but they can only find us if it's bright enough to see us.

Temari shrugged, but inside she was pissed off. Why the hell does he have to be right _all_ the time. Why can't he just be wrong once in a while just so she can say that he isn't as smart as he acts all of the time. "Okay, but this also means that we can't have a fire or we'll be spotted instantly. Since we're so tired, now is definitely not a good time to attract attention. Since most of us paired up while running..." Shikamaru turned pale. He was trying not to notice the fact that she was deliberately pairing the two of them together. "That's how we should decide who's paired with who while taking the night watch tonight. Don't you agree Shikamaru?" She knew just the right words to trap him. If he said no to avoid her he would get everybody angry at him, but if he said yes he would be stuck with Temari. At the same time, his head was telling him to say no, but something inside him was saying yes. "I agree." Temari was beaming inside, even as Shikamaru stared daggers at her.

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"It's a good thing we hit as many as we did in that fight early on, I don't think we could have managed four of them." Neji stated. Neji and Tenten had the first watch. One was to watch the inside of the camp, particularily a certain bastard who kept trying to wriggle free of his ropes every now and then, and the other needed to watch the outside in case of an attack. "I don't think so, we did pretty good."

"I think you mean 'well', and yes we did." Neji said. Tenten rolled her eyes at his correction, almost making the Hyuga chuckle. He had in fact been interested in her, it was almost impossible to bring her out of her happy moods unless she was fighting or she was worried about Neji, Lee, Gai, or Gai and Lee's constant posing. Add to that the fact that she was the only person on record to genuinely burst out laughing uncontrolably in a good way, and she was definitely the most interesting kunoichi he had ever known.

He started thinking more and more about the kunoichi next to him, until he heard a thump on the ground nearby and looked at the source to see that Tenten had fallen from her upright sitting position. He leaped to her side and held her upper body up so he could see her face. "Tenten! Are you okay? Tenten! Speak to me!" A smile spread to her originally pale looking cheeks as she raised her head and kissed his cheek, sending alarms through the Hyuga boy's head. "And that's my revenge." She said as Neji's face turned deep crimson. "Revenge? What for?" She smiled at him as he started going over the list of possibilities in his head, but finding none. "You said you would take me out someplace nice, but you're taking too long." Neji's jaw felt like it was about to drop. Hadn't she asked him to do that earlier? How was that taking too long? Oh well, tomorrow they could go to an actual restaurant.

"Hey, your two hours are up, you can go to sleep now... unless we're interrupting something." Shikamaru said as he saw Neji holding onto Tenten, his face blushing as he slowly turned around wide-eyed to see both Temari and Shikamaru staring at the two of them. He just blushed even more, exceptionally rare for him, and stood up to walk back to his sleeping bag, a pleased looking Tenten in tow. "How troublesome... They could at least wait to get a room first."

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Shikamaru and Temari's two hours went by much more quickly since they were going back and forth in a game of Shogi, whoever wasn't making a move was standing watch. Temari had beaten him in an hour fourty-five minutes, a new record for Temari since she had easily kept him distracted by keeping him flustered with little comments between turns that kept him unfocused on the game. The last fifteen minutes however were very interesting.

"So, is there any kind of prize for the winner?" Temari asked giving Shikamaru a condescending look. The shadow user said his usual 'how troublesome' before walking over and kissing her on the lips. Temari didn't see that coming, and if she did, there was no proof of it on her face. She was blushing so red she felt like her face was on fire. Shikamaru kept the kiss on her lips for ten seconds before he stopped and walked back to where he was sitting. "Happy?" Temari was, for lack of better words, speechless. Shikamaru may not have said it out loud, but he was overly pleased that he had kissed her. So much so that he was pretty sure that he had gotten more from it than she did.

She was sitting there for five minutes staring off into space as the blush slowly faded. "Wh-what the hell was that!?" She asked."Your reward." He said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Something wrong?" Temari became annoyed. "What do you mean 'my reward', don't I get to decide the reward?" Shikamaru sighed, it was too troublesome to argue and he agreed to her terms. "Okay, what do you want then?" She moved close to him as she started to whisper into his ear. "_What!?_" Temari just smiled as Shikamaru sat there with his jaw hanging down.

"Okay." He said, berating himself mentally for letting her get away with the reward. "Just please remember what I asked earlier." Temari nodded, her smile growing wider as she realized what he meant. Without thinking about it, she got up, walked over to him, and hugged him with a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." She whispered in his ear before she went back to her original spot watching the outside of the camp. Troublesome wouldn't even begin to describe the situation, and this time a certain someone will notice. "But don't forget, it's not just today either, I said during the _whole_ mission." She had to rub it in. He nodded as she walked up next to him. He may have thought her request was troublesome, but he honestly didn't mind it at all. In fact, he was half happy about it, but he was too stubborn to openly admit it and give her that victory. It was what she was about to say that was going to really trouble him. "And you had better tie your hands or something, because I don't want you molesting me in my sleep again." Shikamaru had a horrified look on his face, he knew she was partially joking about it. Partially however means that she wasn't kidding about the tieing him up part, she wanted him to stay whether he liked it or not. This was getting too damn troublesome...

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"Okay your shift is over, we will take over now." Lee said with a grin as he was helping Sakura wake up and get through her normal routine. "Thanks Lee, coming Shikamaru?" Shikamaru hung his head as he followed her. Sakura and Lee looked at eachother with a confused look, before looking at the spikey-haired man. Instead of giving a verbal answer he just shook his head and let his head drop back down until he disappeared from sight behind the nearby trees the camp was hidden behind which was guarded by Gai's summoned creatures. Gai's summoned animal was still a mystery since he refused to tell anybody what type of summoning it was and had done so while hidden from the others so nobody had seen him use it.

Unlike Temari and Shikamaru, these two had decided to talk back and forth while on their watch, being sure to keep quiet so the others could sleep. They had chatted about everything from Naruto's exploits to who was dating whom and what their friends were doing. They had gone like this for an hour before they were finally all caught up with everything. There had been a silence for over ten minutes before either said anything.

"So what kind of animal do you think Gai summons, anyway?" Sakura asked Lee, trying to start a conversation. "I do not know Sakura, he says that it is top secret, and that someday he will tell me if I can keep it a secret." Lee said. "Well, wait a minute, we're in a semi-forested area, so that means it has to be something that lives in this kind of enviroment, right?" Lee nodded. "It could be anything from a bird to a squirrel." At the mention of the word 'squirrel', Lee's eyes grew wide with a look that scared Sakura. "Please don't hug me like that again! I haven't recovered from last time!" She had caught him mid-stand. Everytime he got that look in his eye, he tended to hug the closest friendly creature nearby who wasn't running away, and those hugs tended to be quite painful. He sat down with a slight pout, but it quickly disappeared into a grin.

"Sakura, remember what you said when we were back in Konoha? About that date?" He blushed slightly while saying this, which was matched by the pink-haired kunoichi. "Yeah I do, Lee. What about it?" Lee's grin grew a little more before he continued. "Well, if we end up having to stay at the village we are going into tomorrow, would you be willing to go out with me there?" Sakura was suprised. They had intended to stay at the village for a few days since any ninja who were coming out this far had to be waiting around that area, so after this checkpoint they didn't really need to rush. "Okay, but you have to wear something besides a green leotard." Lee smiled at this, she knew he didn't wear them all the time, only when fighting and training which was often enough to make that mistake. "Thank you, Sakura!" This time when he got up, he managed to get his hug in before she could protest, but not with the same bone crunching sounds as the previous times. "You're welcome, Lee." She hugged him back and received a kiss on the cheek, which she returned to his cheek as well before letting go. They both stared at eachother with smiling blank looks and blushes on their face for what felt like forever before Sakura realized that they were still supposed to be standing watch still and looked back out of the field they were watching.

"So, do you have any idea what you're going to do once we get there?" She asked after some time, turning her head to look towards Lee. "Well, I have an idea or two, but I do not to spoil the suprise for my beautiful Sakura Blossom." He may have been blushing slightly at this point, but it was nothing compared to the blush that had made it's way to Sakura's face after he had called her his 'Sakura Blossom'.

"Lee, Sakura, your turns' are up." Kankuro said as he approached the couple from behind, easily turning the blushes into shocked stares as both ran to hide the blushes on their face. Gai may have known that Lee had always liked Sakura, but he knew she didn't want everybody knowing about the relationship just yet. All Gai saw was two blurs as the two disappeared as he rounded the corner. "I've never seen anybody that enthusiastic to get some sleep before..." Kankuro nodded his head in agreement.

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Gai and Kankuro spent most of their time talking about the mission, people they knew, and other simple things like that. Since they had the last shift, they had more time to warm up in the morning than the rest. Although this was useful, it didn't help too much.

As Kankuro was cleaning some of his puppets and working out the kinks in a few spots of Kuroari that had been a bit roughed up by the two ninja inside of it earlier, he noticed a few ninja moving through the thick grass towards the village. Instantly alarm bells went off in Kankuro's head as he disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the camp and woke the others quietly. The only words he had to say were, "We have company."

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**Yay! Another chapter! I had a hard time since I'm not exactly good at building relationship stories. Plus it's hard to work with Shikamaru and Temari since they both kinda strike me as the stubborn type when it comes to decisions. The only reason Shikamaru doesn't argue is because he's too lazy (just like me, yayness!) Sorry if the relationship building goes too fast or slow for some of you, it's just that I'm trying to get it done fast so that I can get everything built up before the end of the story which is almost at the halfway point (almost, it's a more or less thing since even I'm not sure.) I hope you enjoyed this chapter. So um... please review... Really review for Toby's sake, the poor kitten is still crying since this story's only received three reviews so far.**

**P.S. Yes this chapter is longer than the three before it. For those who don't like extra long chapters sorry, for those who like it, you're welcome.**

**P.S.S. REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey fans! I have good news and bad news, good news is that we've officially passed the point ten-thousand words! This deserves a special, but that's the bad news, no special thing today except for an action scene starring my two favorite characters! This action scene is pretty tough for me, but I'll try my best for my fans (whoever you are.) And by the way... **_**holds up a white tiger kitten**_**. Only one person reviewed, could somebody please review? Even if it's anonymous, just leave a comment so I'll feel better, and so that lil Toby can feel better. Plus if you're nice I'll let you pet him **_**holds up lil Toby **_**Come on, you know you wanna! Anyway without further ado, I bring you the next chapter.**

_**Jumps up with his giant generic stamp with a white tiger symbol on it and stamps the disclaimer onto the fanfic.**_

**Disclaimer:**

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.**_

Poke, poke. "Hey Shikamaru, come on already, we have to get up before the enemy finds out we're here." Shikamaru's eyes went wide as he heard Temari say this. "Have any been spotted?" She nodded. "How troublesome... Okay, get everybody together and we'll make a battle plan. Have Kankuro explain how many he saw while..." He paused for a second as if deciding on whether to speak or not. "While you untie my arms." He said, a bright blush on his annoyed face. They hadn't done anything, but she had tied his hands together behind his back so that he wouldn't accidently let his hands travel while he slept this time. She had an evil grin as she walked him over to the rest of the group around Kankuro.

"Sound and those missing ninja from before? The missing ninja I could understand, but shouldn't it take longer for them to get here?" Kankuro shook his head. "I think they defected. Alot of Orochimaru's subjects went rogue when they heard about his demise. Even more after Kabuto was killed. They are probably part of that group. Anyway, Sound is now an ally after Shigeru Maikeru offered to run it. Didn't that knuckle head Naruto have something to do with that?" Sakura nodded. "I went with him on that mission. Maikeru was a leader of a clan's village near sound that had been the victim of Orochimaru. We were sent to ask him for assistance and when he declined... Well you know how Naruto is. He got in a fight with the guy and convinced him the hard way that a leader should protect others, and that it was easiest to do that as a hidden village's Kage. That makes two Kages he's had to beat the shit out of to convince them to do what's right." Everybody sweat dropped. "And to think, the best he can get in his home village is Second in Command. You would think the people would admire him because of the fox, not hate him." Lee nodded. "When Naruto announced it to the rest of us last year, I did not like him any less. I was suprised, but I admired him for it." He said with his ever present grin.

"Shhh, you'll attract attention. Now, what can we do about them? We have a few advantages, but we're still stuck against an almost unfair amount of ninja. We can get most of them, but it will be hard to finish off the rest, since most still leaves alot of enemies since this is definitely the size of an army. They don't appear to be that strong, mostly genin and chuunin level. Anybody could take them, but there was one guy who caught my eye... he was pretty far off from the rest, and he looked to be one of the mercenaries. He had a couple people with him, but they seemed pretty normal." Kankuro said. "Well what else do you know abou--" Shikamaru was cut off by an explosion in the middle of the camp, but was thrown when Kankuro and Temari landed on top of him.

"What the hell was that!?" He heard Sakura yell, letting her anger get the best of her. Shikamaru got up after Temari vanished from on top of his body. When he looked over to where she was, he paled. Kankuro had taken the blast for her, and in return she landed on him. He didn't look good at all. His chest looked like it had taken a rasengan, and his legs and arms were charred. "Sakura! Kankuro needs help!" Temari screamed. Sakura instantly appeared at her side and cringed. "I'm going to need some time. You have to keep us protected while I do this." Temari nodded. "Neji and Tenten, please do what you can to take the army from the back to the front quietly. Once they know you're there, Lee and Gai take up the front with Neji while Tenten fights from afar. I'll stay with Temari, Sakura, and Kankuro." They all said their conformation before disappearing. Temari was standing next to Kankuro blocking the kunai she could by blowing them backwards with a gust of wind. "Great Cutting Whirlwind Jutsu!" Shikamaru ducked for cover as a giant blast of wind tore a hole through the sky and a good portion of the forested area in front of them. When Shikamaru got out from his cover he looked up to see a few ninjas hidden from Temari in the trees, obviously holding her in a genjutsu to hide their presence. "Shadow Possession Jutsu." He whispered. His shadow shot from tree shadow to shadow before reaching the three behind her. He instantly removed the handseals the three were using. "Temari, aim a blast towards the tree, three braches up on the right, there's three ninja holding you in a genjutsu." She nodded understanding and brought her fan across even more fiercely than before, leaving just barely enough time for Shikamaru to release the jutsu before becoming sliced up himself.

"That was very nice teamwork you two, I didn't expect the Konoha ninja to be that strong." Temari and Shikamaru looked around them for the voice as Sakura used a genjutsu used by medics to hide the presence of themselves and their patients while healing them. "Where are you, show yourself!" Temari demanded. A man appeared out of nowhere, or was it a woman? Neither of the two could tell since the person who had commented stood next to that person a second later, with another on the other side. "Who are you!?" Temari almost screamed, she was still pissed off about the explosion that nearly killed her brother.

"My, my, you really should be careful with that temper of yours little girl." The man on the right said while the man on the left of the robed figure snickered. "Fine, if you won't answer me, take this!" Temari brought her arm all the way back and swung it in front of her. "Great Cutting Whirlwind Jutsu!" Two of the figures dodged while the one who had made the comment was caught in the blast and easily sliced to ribbons. "Now, either tell us who you are or you're dead." The man on the left side of the figure made a U-Turn, but froze as another shadow met his. "Going somewhere?" Shikamaru smirked as he forced the man to pull out a handful of kunai and toss them at the robed figure. Instead of dodging, the figure swung it's arm and swatted them aside. "What the..."

The robed figure appeared in front of Shikamaru and backhanded him hard sending him flying head first into a nearby tree, sending the one held by his shadow flying as well. Shikamaru shook as he stood back up, his shadow having retracted after getting hit. "That hurt like hell! Whatever that thing is, it's wearing metal bracers or gauntlets on it's arms!" Temari heard him yell. Before she could answer, the air was filled with evil laughter. "What makes you think that I'm wearing anything on my arms?" The robed figure finally removed it's robe to reveal a slender woman with short black hair and basic black ninja clothes without sleaves or headgear. "If you think that it's going to be that simple, you're sorely mistaken." Shikamaru looked like he had been hit by a ton of bricks. "Why is it I always end up fighting women? How troublesome." He said as he started to move a little more closely to the trees around him. "Temari, this is going to be a tough fight, but if we work together we can beat her." Temari nodded. "And we should figure out how she hit you so hard, you may be a wuss up close, but she still sent you pretty far." Shikamaru wasn't sure whether to agree with her about avoiding getting hit, or getting angry about the wuss comment.

"Are you two about done? If so, we can begin." Without waiting for an answer, the woman disappeared and reappeared behind Shikamaru. "Damn it!" The woman tried to backhand Shikamaru again like last time, this time using a fist that could have easily crushed the shadow user. Shikamaru dropped straight down, catching himself with his hands and sending both legs backwards to kick his opponents legs out from under her. Unfortunately, his legs stopped at her legs since her legs didn't move when he kicked them. "What the hell? What are you made of?" The woman grinned again as she sent a kick straight towards the one place no man would ever want to get hit. "Holy... Huh?" He looked on to see her foot stop mere inches from his manhood. The woman's leg had stopped on account of a giant club blocking the kick. "Thank you Temari, thank you so very much!" He said moving away as quickly as he could while Temari did the same. "Well, I'm not about to let another woman break something that's mine." For about half a second, Shikamaru didn't care what was going on in the fight as he stared at Temari with eyes the size of dinner plates and his face turned pale. "WHAT!?" He yelled, normally he would find it too troublesome, but this was more than just a slightly special circumstance. "Hey, don't ignore me you spikey haired freak. If you don't pay attention, I'll kill your girlfriend first." The same look was instantly turned to the woman they were fighting. "I must have pissed off some diety or something..." Shikamaru said to himself before refocusing on the battle just in time to dodge a kick aimed for his head.

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"It's like they don't even know we're here. This has to be the easiest ambush ever." Neji whispered as he took another three ninja down with a light tap on the back of the enemy's head. "I know what you mean, and at the rate this is going there isn't going to be anything left, soon." Tenten added as she slit the throat of another ninja. They had been doing this for the past five or ten minutes and were easily killing the miniature army of two-hundred or so off since the ninja seemed more focused on the village in front of them and the battle that was going on up ahead where the beginning of the army had engaged the village.

"Una, hurry up will ya?" One of the ninja in the back said as he turned around. "What the!? We're under attack from behind!" He screamed as he looked at the field of dead ninja behind him.

"Tenten, send up the flare!" Neji said. Tenten quickly pulled out a cylinder and pulled on the cord sending a flare up into the sky, almost half a second later two green blurs appeared out of nowhere attacking the two in front of them. "It's about time, I was starting to wonder if you two were killed up here." Gai said as he gave his nice guy pose after dispatching the man in front of him. Lee followed suit a second later with the same grin. "Guess we can start the real battle now, huh, Neji?" Both Gai and Lee grinned as they both nodded to one another. Although the two had made the rule long ago to only use the gates when necessary, Lee had finally broken away from the shadow of his sensei and had decided to use the gates more frequently as long as the situation demanded it. And right now the situation was demanding it.

"Are you ready, Lee?" Gai said, already knowing the answer. "Yes, Gai-senei!" The two put on a determined look as they turned around to look towards the crowd of ninja that was starting to turn towards them. "Third Gate: Gate of Life, Open!" They instantly both turned red as limits on their body started being released one after another. The ninja that were surrounding them started to shift backwards shouting "Demons!" and "Monsters!" A couple tried to toss some kunai, but were quickly followed by a kunai from Tenten blocking it since the two who were opening the gates were too preoccupied with opening the next gate. "Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain, Open!" They shouted just before disappearing from sight leaving a crater where the two were standing. "This is going to be fun to watch. Too bad we didn't bring chips or popcorn." Tenten said, leaving a slightly confused Neji trying to figure out how she could be upbeat like that all the time, especially at a time like this. "O-okay, let's just be sure to avoid them while we fight the rest." He said as he began to charge into the crowd of enemy ninja preparing his own signature moves as well.

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"Damn it, everytime we hit her, she uses that damn jutsu to deflect our hits. This is so troublesome." He said. "Temari can you tell what that jutsu is?" Temari nodded. "She said something like partial metal. She must be making her skin metallic or something, have any ideas?" Shikamaru just grinned, that was all he needed to know. "We need to get her to stop moving, but she's seen my Shadow Possession so she's not going to let it get her like it did the others. Is there anything you can do, Temari?" She shook her head. "Things are getting so damn troublsome, lately."

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"Here come the reinforcements! Don't give up!" Indeed another hundred ninja had turned tail from the village and was now heading towards the group of four. "Tenten, we have to pick up the pace!" Neji shouted as he finished off another ninja. "Okay then, time to get serious." She said as she pulled out two scrolls and used her Twin Rising Dragons, creating a thick smokescreen before rising in the air to strike. She launched weapons of all kinds, half of which were used to deflect weapons hurled at her since she had now become the most noticable target on the field besides the two blurs who were now starting to slow down. Any that did not hit another weapon hit every person it was aimed at head on, killing or maiming the target. "Tenten, more! I'll defend you!" As if on cue, the Hyuga jumped into the air and started deflecting every single weapon while Tenten started going all out offensively taking out almost as many as the gate users.

"Fire Dragon Jutsu!" Tenten looked down to see four dragons coming from four targets on the ground. "Oh shit!" Before she was hit a giant blue ball appeared out of nowhere accompanied by a yell of, "Eight Trigrams Large Palm Rotation!" Dammit! She keeps getting rescued by him, she needs to practice with Lee more often. Instead of stopping to yell at him, she took out her anger on the crowd of ninja by doubling the speed she was spinning in the air throwing more and more almost screaming at every enemy she killed until there were only a few left. Neji simply stood and watched after dealing with the ninjutsu using ninja, knowing full well not to mess with her when she was this pissed. Why she was pissed he didn't know, but he knew better than to attract the attention back to himself.

She had easily finished off a good portion of the army as Neji, Lee, and Gai took the rest. It had taken a while, but besides a twisted arm on Gai, and a sprained leg on Lee, as well as a few cuts on Neji where he hadn't been able to guard himself when he earned some attention in the air earlier, they were relatively okay. "Are you two okay? You tend to overdo it when it comes to fighting with the gates open." Gai, who was helping Lee walk, gave the girl a thumbs up with a smile before his face contorted in pain. That was the wrong hand to use. Tenten found it half troubling and half funny, but decided not to act on either. "Where are Shikamaru, Temari, Sakura, and Kankuro? Have they not returned yet?" Gai asked, having noticed that only his students were present. Neji shook his head. "I believe they are still protecting Sakura. We should head over there." He said, but was quickly halted by Tenten. "Hey, come on Neji, don't be so stiff. Chances are they are having no problem, it's best to let them have some time to themselves." Neji quirked an eyebrow, so Tenten sighed in frustration and whispered something in his ear making him turn red. "You really think..." He said, and was answered by a quick nod from Tenten. "Okay, we'll let them be for now, I'll go ahead to the village and try to talk to them, you help Gai and Lee." She nodded in acknowledgement. "I'll be back soon to take those two with me into the village, take care." Wait, did he just say 'take care'? He started mentally berating himself as he turned to the village and started to run.

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**Tah-dah! The end of this chapter, how do you think Shikamaru and Temari are going to defeat the woman? I don't know yet either (I'm lieing) but I know it's going to be great. I didn't like how this chapter went and I even had dreams (better known as nightmares) that I was on this battlefield, but I did what I could to fix what I didn't like. This is going to be the last chapter before I got to Jacon for the weekend so you won't see another chapter for a while but when I get back I'll get right on it! Oh, and before I forget... Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey peoples, it's your friendly neighborhood... well, friendly national? World? **_**sweat drops. **_**Okay don't know a good title yet besides White Tiger Hanyou, so I guess I'll just stick with that. Anyway, it's me again, I am sorry that this one took so long (even if I did warn you guys first), but I had alot of things I had to do besides Jacon. First I had to work on my senior portfolio (don't ask how I'm 19 and still in High School, I was always older than the other students in class), had to make something up to somebody, and I had a hard time with this fight scene since I didn't want to make it one of those '**_**smack**_** you died, I won' fights since those are pretty boring. Anyway, again sorry, and I hope you enjoy it. By the way, easter egg time, try to find it in this chapter (it's not hard to find.)**

_**U/D I can't really update until somebody actually does review with the answer to the question at the end of this chapter, even a review with no answer could get it if nobody else reviews, which by the way nobody has, so please do so.**_

_**Jumps up with his giant generic stamp with a white tiger symbol on it and stamps the disclaimer onto the fanfic.**_

**Disclaimer:**

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.**_

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"Shadow Sewing Jutsu!" Shikamaru yelled as the woman started to dodge the many tendrils that were now chasing her. She backflipped away from three while two came from behind and pierced the metallic skin on her arm leaving a nice long cut along her arm as she started cursing profusely. "You fucking brat! How the hell did you do that!?" Shikamaru just smirked as the tendrils continued striking out again and again "Hey Shikamaru, you're getting a little slow, what happened to all that speed your shadow used to have?" Temari said with a smirk as she saw the enemy woman run. She started to gain some distance from the tendrils as she made her way around until she was a couple feet away from him.

"Take this!" The woman's metal knee, kneed Shikamaru in the stomache sending him a little into the air where he received a metal-fisted uppercut sending him a great distance from the ground. Before she could turn around though she was sent flying into a tree as Temari hit her across the back with her closed fan. "I'm coming, Shikamaru!" She opened her fan, swung it in front of her and jumped on top of it to ride the wind up to catch him before he hit the ground.

"I don't think so!" The unnamed woman said as she went through some handseals. "Elemental Chakra Destruction Jutsu!" The wind around Temari instantly died and Temari would have instantly fallen if not for her fan helping her glide.

Shikamaru wasn't so lucky though, he continued to fall and his body disappeared from sight once it reached the trees. "Shikamaru! No! What the hell did you do!?" The woman smirked while she replied. "I'm completely invulnerable to all types of attack. That jutsu I used makes all chakra lose it's elemental alignment. Once I use it, it turns back into normal chakra and since almost all jutsu use one element or another you have no hope of being able to use them on me! That paired with my Metal Skin and Partial Metal Skin jutsu makes me impossible to kill in combat! You can't defeat me, just give up and I'll kill you quick and painlessly, I may even let those other two who are hiding live with a couple missing limbs."

Like hell she was going to let that happen. "FUCK YOU!" Temari screamed folded her fan and swung it at the woman who tried to block with a metal arm, but was mostly unsuccessful as she was sent flying back into tree, leaving a large crater where she had hit the tree. "Fine, you asked for it." She went through more seals as she glared at Temari who opened her fan and swung while the woman was busy going through her handseals. "Elemental Chakra Destruction!" The blast died a foot from where the woman stood as she watched the wind mistress' shocked face. "Great Cutting Whirlwind!" Temari yelled again as she pumped alot of chakra into her next blast. The wind was again stopped by the same jutsu again.

Temari just grew angry at the failed attempt and started dashing towards her opponent. "What? Do you think you can do anything to me? I have soldier pills providing an almost infinite amount of chakra and all you can do up close is push me around with that little stick of yours, what do you think you can do against that?" Temari just raised her fan and let it land on the woman's head as her body turned into metal again with a simple handseal. Temari swung hard again and again, more and more furiously sending the woman farther and farther into the hole until she was satisfied that the woman was thoroughly crushed despite not being able to see her in the dust. She stared into the dust for a few seconds, not seeing any change and finally grinning at her handiwork.

"You're going to have to try harder than that to hurt me." Temari froze. "What's wrong? Didn't I tell you? You can't hurt me no matter what you do." A metallic fist came out of the dust cloud and landed on her chest cracking a few of her ribs as she was flew backwards and landed on the ground thirty feet away leaving a long break in the ground. The other woman climbed out of the hole in the ground looking to be made completely of metal and started to walk slowly towards Temari smiling maniacally as she started to crack her metallic knuckles. "You lose little girl." She got within five feet when Temari quickly stood up and swung her fan as hard as she could before falling forwards from the pain. The woman tried to go through the handseals for the defensive jutsu but was unable to finish them in time as she was sent backwards against a tree with gashes all over her body when the wind blades had made everything from cuts to excessively large gashes all over her body.

"Heh, so much for being invincible, huh?" Temari said as she started to feel the affects of the punch as well as all the swinging she had done. All she could do was collapse with a small, proud smile as the woman started to get up. "Damn you, you waited until I was too close to counter." She said as the metallic surface of her skin changed back to normal. "But it looks like I'm not the only one who's hurting now, huh?" She asked rhetorically. "I'll end this fight here and now." The woman said as she started to walk over to Temari with a satisfied look on her face. She stood above Temari who was now too tired and worn to move. "You're finished!" She said, venom practically dripping off of her words.

Her fist rose in the air changing to a metallic texture and came down until it came an inch from Temari's head but it froze just before making contact. "What the--hey! What happened to my arm!?" She half screamed in anger and half in frustration. "It's called the Shadow Possession Jutsu, and it's one of the most useful jutsu I've ever used," She heard from behind her, "and if I'm right, if I can hold it for five more minutes, you're going to pass out from blood loss." There was no mistaking. Only that black-haired boy could possibly come to the rescue at a time like this.

"You fucking bastard! You're supposed to be dead! How they hell did you survive a fall from that high!?" Shikamaru smiled that 'I know more than you' smile before explaining. "Right before I hit the ground I created a Shadow Clone and had it throw me upwards to slow the fall and cushion the blow, it still took me a while to recover, and even then Sakura had to heal my ribs and chin after those hits you gave me. I expected the first hit, but the second one could have killed me if I didn't have enough chakra for that shadow clone. And if Sakura didn't have that genjutsu up this whole time, we would have been dead long ago once you saw me laying there." The woman's eyes widened at the unseen boy's explanation. "You mean I fucking lost because of some field medic's pathetic genjutsu!?" Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at the girl's rage. "Yes, and now if you don't mind, please die. Shadow Neck Bind Jutsu!" The shadow at her feet began to quake before a hand shaped shadow snaked it's way up her body to her throat choking her to death. "Goodbye." Was the last word she heard before she fell to the ground and died.

Shikamaru wasted no time once he was done, he quickly ran over to Temari's body, holding her head so he could look directly at her face. "Temari. Temari! Are you okay? Temari, please!" He would have shaken her, but he knew better. He turned to an area of trees behind him. "Sakura, Temari needs help!" As if on cue,a pissed, still tied to a tree Tenzan, an exhausted Sakura and an unconscious Kankuro appeared out of thin air as the illusionary jutsu was released. "I don't know if I have the chakra Shikamaru." Sakura said as she stumbled towards him. She had healed Kankuro to an extent that was extremely difficult to reach under these circumstances and then she had to heal Shikamaru after he had taken a few hits himself. "I overheard that woman say she has soldiers pills on her, use one of them, just please help her!" Sakura's eyes perked up when she heard this and she quickly ran towards the body and searched for the said pills, finally finding them in the woman's left leg weapons pouch in a secret pocket. She quickly grabbed one and ate it as she started moving toward the couple with Shikamaru still cradling her head, tears welling up in his eyes. "If I had tried to save her any later she might have been..." Shikamaru said, not being able to finish it. "It's okay Shikamaru, she'll be fine."

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"Thank you Tora Shiro, Tora Yume. I don't think we could have gotten medical care anywhere else close enough to help. There are two green-clad men nearby who have sprained an ankle and wrist, but they should be fine. Another with dark clothes and a painted face is away from the clearing to the west in the woods, I believe he is injured badly, he had taken the force of an explosion for two others. There should be three with him. One with pink hair and red clothes, another with blonde hair and a giant fan, and a third with spiky hair in the back and no real defining features besides that. Two of the three are wearing Konoha forehead protectors, the one with the fan is wearing a forehead protector from Suna." The couple nodded, "We were expecting that young lady to visit again, she comes to this village often. She reminds me so much of my wife, Yume, here." The woman blushed as she continued where Shiro had stopped. "We have sent out scouts to head towards the explosion we heard earlier and sent out two more later just in case. They should be getting help if they need it soon. Which reminds me, did she ever happen to mention a young man by the name of 'Shikamaru' while you were with her?" Neji had gone through years of training to not look suprised at questions like this, but inside he was bursting out laughing. "Yes, Shikamaru and Temari were the ones who instructed that our team fight the larger part of the force while they protected Kankuro." This caused a smile to spread across the woman's cheeks, as well as her husband's. "I see, well, we should leave now, we have sent out all the ninja we have on hand to search for any survivors of that onslaught out there, and to help out those with allegiance to this village, Suna, or Konoha. Here's a map of the village, and we have marked the nearest inn and the hospital your two green clothed friends will be staying in until they heal." Neji would have smacked his head if it wasn't rude. He knew they were going to have an interesting time trying to keep the two in bed. "Thank you again. I'll head out and point them out just in case your ninja can't find my friends."

They all bowed one last time before Neji left. "It's nice to see that Temari may have finally taken the initiative. I hope that the Nara kid is worth it. From the way she makes him sound, he's almost perfect for her." Shiro said. "Oh, he is." Yume said without a even a doubt. "What makes you say that?" Shiro asked with a confused look. "Call it woman's intuition... That and if he isn't he'll regret it." She said with a malicious look on her face, causing her spouse to step backwards with a sweat drop falling across the side of his face in worry.

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"Okay, so how many of you are left?" The friendly man asked. "All of us are left as far as I know, there are a few of us unaccounted for as of yet, they off to the west that way." Gai said as he pointed off in the intended direction. "Okay, I'll leave you in the care of these three, while I go and help them get to the village." The ally said as he pointed out the three behind him. "Thank you, oh and please tell the two with blonde hair and black hair to take their time if they want." Tenten said, still under the impression that Temari wanted to spend as much time as she could with the shadow user. "Okay, I will tell them." He said as he bowed and disappeared with a flicker of green from his clothes. "Hm, must be ninja from that village." Gai said, stating the obvious as the other three began to help them walk back to the village.

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Shikamaru was still at Temari's side even after Sakura had finished healing her. "She'll be okay, right?" Sakura smiled. This was the first time she had seen him this worried about anybody, even though she had heard that he was worried about Chouji after their failed attempt at 'rescuing' Sasuke. "Don't worry, she'll be fine, though it would be best if we get her to that village nearby to rest since her chakra is still a little low, and I wouldn't suggest soldier pills while she's unconscious." Sakura said, conjuring up the best medical diagnostic she could without the use of a jutsu. "I could check for more, but it's unlikely she suffered much more than a few broken ribs and some damage to the other areas around it I fixed up already from moving with broken ribs." She added.

"I believe now would be a good time for me to come in then, I'm from the nearby village that was attacked. We didn't sustain any casualties but we must admit, it did strike us as a bit off that we would be attacked the way we were out of the blue unless..." He looked over to where Kankuro was laying down and saw the pissed looking man still tied to the tree. "I see I was right, you have that bastard, Tenzan!" He said as a smile grew on his face. "It's nice to see that you caught him, but I see we could have arrived a bit sooner, how is Temari and Kankuro?" He said, eyeing the worn look on both sand siblings' faces. "They took some major hits, but they should be okay. If you don't mind, could we please use your hospital?" The ninja merely laughed while both Shikamaru and Sakura looked at him still waiting for an answer. "What? You were serious? Of course you can! Those two have helped us almost as often as Konoha! They are as close to our clan as family, and we would greatfully take them under our wing. I'm sure Shiro and Yume will be glad to see her again and hear all about that kid she likes again."

Shikamaru looked wide-eyed at the man in front of him. Sakura coughed to get the ninja's attention and waved him over. When he was close enough, Sakura whispered something into the man's ear. "You mean that's him? But, he looks so... scrawny." Shikamaru glared at the man as his eyebrow was twitching, but still holding onto Temari as if his life depended on it. "Er, I didn't mean it like that, it's just that I always expected the man that had beaten her would have been alot bigger or alot stronger looking." That didn't really help, but instead of saying anything, he picked up Temari bridal style and started carrying her in his arms as he started to walk in the general direction of the village.

He turned to Sakura with a confused look. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good withexplanations and apologies." He said bowing his head slightly. "It's okay, he finds it 'too troublesome' to hold a grudge. In a few hours he'll act like nothing happened." The man smiled. "That's good to know. Will you allow me to carry Kankuro for you?" Sakura smiled and nodded as he picked up the puppet master and she untied Tenzan from the tree who started kicking and flailing again, still muttering curses into his gag. "Yeah yeah, 'I hate you and am going to kill you, blah blah blah. Just shut your trap before I start taking Lee's advice and knock you out like he did." Tenzan turned pale as he remembered the kick that felt like it had broken bones, and quickly stopped resisting. "Better." She carried him while walking next to the unnamed ninja, both carrying a body over their shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "So, can you tell me what happened?" He asked as Sakura continued to walk with the now pissed but silent man on her back. "Sure, but only if you tell me who Shiro and Yume are." He nodded with a smile before Sakura started her tale of how the battle had gone.

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**God, I have such a hard time trying to find resolutions to stuff like this. I did... more or less. I had fun at JACON in Orlando and had some extra time on my hands to write on the way there and back, not much, but enough to write a good portion of this thing. I would definitely like some reviews so I know how to improve next time. I am pretty sure that you guys can see the pattern that's been happening (and if not, don't worry since it's only been a chain of two so far) so you know what's coming in the future. Time to find out what the group is going to do on vacation! and um... REVIEW! PLEASE! Oh, and my little white tiger kitten named Tobi says 'REVIEW'!**

**P.S. There is a going to be a bit more time between updates now, and I would like to say that anybody who reviews and guesses the easter egg and it's meaning will be added into the next chapter! All I need is a first name and I'll Japanese it and put your review in the beginning of the chapter, and add where that person is in the story (whether it's a big or small part, who knows.)**

**P.S.S. Tobi is still sad since only one person reviewed in the week I was gone.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I was unable to update until somebody figured out the puzzle (and if nobody did, then this is coming after about a week or two.) The easter egg(s) was/were that Tora Shiro and Tora Yume bit. The last name Tora means tiger, Shiro means white (as in white tiger a.k.a. me), and Yume is Dream (which I'm using to describe a certain somebody I love.) If you read my profile, you'll see a nice little fun fact that I like to stick two tigers in my fanfics, even if hidden very well or barely. I hope that you had fun and didn't strain yourself trying to figure it out. I actually had a hard time finding the right name and the japanese words to correspond, especially the female name (but then again, when you love somebody, it's always hard.) Now time for the congratulations! The winner of the review quiz thing was , congratulations! **

**Here's the review:**

**Whiven: There was no review, I'm sad to say that as such I have to use a name of my own creation for this chapter. The girl's name is Kuri. If you can figure this out... well read the ending author notes to find out.**

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**I'm sorry if I get overly excessive on explanations sometimes, but in this story if I end up explaining something in detail, it's probably something important in the future (near or far future, you'll have to find out.) Anyway, times up, gotta go, disclaimer time!**

_**Jumps up with his giant generic stamp with a white tiger symbol on it and stamps the disclaimer onto the fanfic.**_

**Disclaimer:**

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.**_

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Sakura had gotten pretty far before she had gotten too tired to carry Tenzan anymore. She had used up all of her chakra getting to the gates of the village and almost collapsed the second another person arrived to help carry her and her less than willing company on her shoulder. Temari, Shikamaru, Lee, Gai, Kankuro, and Sakura were now at the hospital being treated for their various ailments from breaking a few bones to simple chakra depletion. They were told that if they recovered quickly enough they would still have to wait until they had a room at a hotel to stay in to rest for the night, to which Gai and Lee both gave the same disappointed look until they felt the throbbing pain from both their injured limbs and the rest of their recovering bodies from the limits they released on their bodies earlier. Sakura didn't mind since she was still able to stay close to Lee who was still annoyed about being contained temporarily. Temari was unfortunately unconscious, but Shikamaru still kept a close eye on her despite being in worse shape than all but the sand siblings. Neji and Tenten were more or less okay so the two had left temporarily to talk to the head of the clan and to find a room to rest for the next few days, as well as make sure Tenzan was securely held in prison for the time they were resting.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality Mr. and Mrs. Tora. I really didn't think you would be this friendly with us since we've never met before." Tenten said as she started speaking with the clan head and his wife. "It's nothing, really. You know those two sand sibling children which means you can't be half bad. Those two often train nearby and use this village as a resting place if they get too tired to stay in the desert." Shiro said as his arm was draped around his wife's shoulder. "On a few of those trips they helped us fight off bandits and ninja who wanted to take advantage of our distance from Konoha and Suna. They even helped stop the fire that could have destroyed the nearby forest. Seeing as our clan's blood limit allows us to control and use the chakra and chakra systems of vegetation, it would have been disastrous for us if those two hadn't helped. Ever since they have been like part of the family." Yume added with a smile as she in turn put her hand around her husband's waist.

"You know, you have a very lovely wife, though I guess we shouldn't have expected any less from the head of the clan." Neji said smiling. Shiro just looked down and covered his face as his wife's face became scary enough to kill. "Just because he's the male doesn't mean he's the head of the family! A woman is perfectly capable of doing it too ya know!" She said, almost as if from memory. She raised her fist threateningly as Neji started to back away. "I didn't mean it that way, in Konoha the heads of the families tend to be men, I apologize for the misunderstanding." He said as he bowed low to the ground to show his sincerity. Yume's face calmed and resumed it's original pleased look. "It's okay I guess, just please don't make that mistake again in the future. You have very good manners young man, and I have a feeling you're taken, no young man who looks like you and has your manners could be without one." Neji's face turned bright red. "I thought so, oh well, I guess we'll have to wait til next time before we can get our daughter a nice boyfriend." At this they heard a sound from behind and saw a girl a little younger than Tenten blushing bright red. "Could you at least give me a choice in the matter, mom?"

Shiro snuck away from the two and moved next to the Konoha ninja while the two started a small argument about boys. "Don't worry, they do this alot. Kuri isn't interested in the kinds of boys my wife likes to choose for her, so the two tend to argue, but they usually end up agreeing on a few things and stop before it gets serious." As if on cue, Kuri turned to the other two with her mother with a smile. "Thank you for waiting, and we apologize for the interruption." Kuri said before bowing and leaving.

"We appreciate the help you gave us in the fight earlier. Our scouts watched from a distance as you took over half of the army on your own. They seemed really impressed with the show you put on. Especially those two in the green, we don't see movement like that often. Last time we saw something like that it was the Leaf's Yellow Flash using his Flying Thunder God Jutsu when Stone decided to take the cities around Konoha in the Great Shinobi War. How were they able to do that?" Shiro asked with a hopeful look on his face. "I'm sorry, but we can't answer that. Only three people can divulge that secret, and I believe only two can choose whether or not it is okay to give that secret, I hope you understand. We can tell you what the ability does, but beyond that we cannot say." Shiro smiled sadly as he heard Neji's response.

"It's okay, he's always been a fan of new incredibly powerful skills and techniques. I believe Sarutobi told me how it worked once. The ability itself is not really a jutsu, but more of a release. It takes the human body's self limiters and removes them forcefully. First it releases the limits on the nervous system, next it releases the input and output of the body, then burns away the excessive useless materials while turning it into energy, and the final limitation removal takes the energy of the body itself and creates something similar to a small big bang, creating energy by burning away all the muscles while making the heart move much more quickly to push the body harder. The only problem with this final release is that it burns _all_ the muscles in the body including the heart, and since your heart is beating so quickly as well as your body's already released limits, you would die anyway from either heart attack, physical strain, or just weakness from lack of muscle in the body. That sounds about right, right?" Yume said as she looked towards the two Konoha ninja. Neither spoke, instead letting their jaws hang open, eyes wide from shock. "Hey, what's wrong? Was it something I said, Shiro?" She said as she turned to her husband who's eyes were starry as he stared admiringly at his wife. A sweat drop rolled down the back of her head as she realized what she said.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suprise you like that, but it was something that he told me once. He figured that if my clan learned about how it worked we might develop it ourselves someday and eventually combine it with our blood limit to enhance the chakra flow of trees and such, or even develop jutsu much like the First Hokage. A few of us have started but without much success. We could ask those two who were fighting earlier, but we would much rather learn it ourselves since experience is usually a much better teacher than a textbook when it comes to developing new skills." Neji and Tenten smiled. "That's a very mature view, even for the older generations. You are a very wise leader Yume." Tenten said as she smiled her all too familiar smile. The older woman smiled proudly at the compliments she received. "Thank you. Now before we get sidetracked again, and before my husband starts drooling." she added the second part as Shiro continued to stare at her with a mix of admiration, love, adoration, and a small hint of lust.

"We have arranged for a few rooms in a hotel nearby that Temari and Kankuro used regularly, we sadly do not have too much room due to an upcoming festival, only having enough room for half of your people. Your group will have to break up into groups of two." Tenten and Neji smiled at eachother finding an opportunity to be together. "I don't think that will be too much of a problem."

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They had all just gotten to the hotel that was conveniently right next to the hospital so it was nice for those who were still aching from the fight earlier. Gai was being informed by Neji and Tenten what was said and the last part made him turn slightly pale. "This is going to be a problem. We have to keep the men and women apart, Tsunade would kill me if you guys started fooling around while we're still on a mission." he said with a slightly troubled look. "But there are three women and five men which means we are going to have pair one guy and girl together. We will have to draw lots to decide on who has to share with who." Gai said. "Okay, Gai-sensei, I decided straws would be easier to do since you can't rig this kind of thing like you could the other choices." Sakura said proudly. "Great idea, okay first the guys and then the girls, whoever gets the small straw will be the one to share with the last bedroom." Gai said as Sakura started moving around the to the guys each one pulling up a straw. After Sakura finished handing out straws she examined who was holding what kind of straw. "Sorry Shikamaru, looks like you're up."

"How troublesome." He muttered to himself, he didn't enjoy the idea of waking up yet again with a tired girl nearby. At least he wouldn't end up sleeping with Temari again, I mean the chances of both him _and _her ending up being the ones to share again were pretty low, a one in fifteen chance. He was already picked so that was still a one in three chance, low enough to make him feel comfortable. "Temari, you're up this time." Scratch that, that diety that hated him during that fight earlier must still be pissed off at him, no other way that could have happened the way it did.

"Yes." She whispered to herself as she started a round of cheering in her head, it's a good thing Sakura had cheated using that genjutsu for her, now if only she had one to make stubborn people less stubborn. "Hey Shikamaru, can you help me to our room? It's upstairs and it's still a little painful to try to go up sets of stairs." Temari said, avoiding any more movement than was necessary. Shikamaru gave a slight grunt before moving next to her and supporting her from underneath one of her arms as he walked with her upstairs. As soon as they were out of earshot Temari started whispering in his ear. "You know, I did hear and feel some of the things that happened after I fell down. I wasn't able to move, but I was still conscious." She said. Shikamaru turned a bright red as he winced slightly. "Thank you for caring so much." She added before she kissed him making his red face turn even redder.

"Here's the room, you have the key, right Temari?" She nodded as she fished it out of her pocket and put it in the keyhole before opening the room. "Heh, it's just like I remember it. I used to come here all the time when I trained with Kankuro, whenever we were too tired to move I'd come in here and Kankuro would get the room down the hall." She said as she walked slowly over to the bed. "Only one bed? I thought there would be two singles in here." Temari chuckled slightly at this. "Usually they would, but this is one of the two single bed rooms in the whole hotel." Shikamaru let a sweat drop roll down the side of his head as he audibly gulped. "So does this mean..." Temari gave him an evil smile. "Yes, we're sharing a bed, again." Shikamaru's face paled at the last word. "Again... How troublesome"

He mumbled as he layed her down on the bed so she could rest. He looked at her and knew this would get more troublesome, but he decided it might be worth it anyway. "S-so, do you want me to get anything for you while I'm outside of the hotel?" He forced out. She grinned and nodded. "Well, I could use a few..." She motioned him to come closer. He didn't get the point since they were the only ones there, but he complied and listened to what she was whispering. "Okay I got it, you want some roasted chestnuts, some steamed vegetables, and... WHAT!?" He stared in horror at her last request. "I was just joking Shikamaru, lighten up some." She said with a evil look on her face. Shikamaru could have sworn that she did it just to mess with his head, I mean why else would she ask for something like birth control devices.

**(A/N Think of something along the lines of condoms and birth control pills since I am pretty sure they have many in the ninja world considering the field of work with women.)**

"Sorry." Shikamaru did a one-eighty right before he reached the door. Did she actually apologize? "What for?" Shikamaru asked, letting his curiousity get the best of him. "I... Well, Sakura and I, rigged the straw drawing so that the two of us would end up together." She admitted, finally letting guilt get the best of her. "If you want, we can run the lots again, fairly this time." She said, trying not to look him in the eyes, already feeling guilty enough without seeing his expression. Seeing her admitting this, he couldn't really be too angry at her. If it was Ino or any of the others they would have just kept torturing him, but she was doing the right thing which was more than the others could probably say. "It's alright," he said with a smile, "if it makes you feel any better, I was hoping for a rematch anyway." This made Temari look up with total shock written all over her face. "What? Rematch? You mean from that game we had before the attack?" She asked, not really getting what he was saying. "Of course, what else would I be talking about?" He said, obviously making up an excuse. To be absolutely truthful, he may not have been too happy about the sleeping with her idea, but he besides that he didn't mind any of the arrangement. He turned to leave, but was again stopped, this time by a pair of arms that wrapped around his body from behind him. "Thank you for not being angry." He heard from her say from behind him. She may not have cared about what others thought of her, but when it came to Shikamaru, she was finding herself caring more than she was used to. Why did she have to care about what he thought? "Like I said, it's alright." He said.

She hugged a little tighter before letting go. "I thought you weren't feeling up to walking?" He said with a slight smirk. "Hey, I said I couldn't get up the stairs, I never said a thing about anything else." She said, with a slight smirk herself. "I'll see you later when I get back, okay?" He said, feeling better now that Temari was acting more like her normal self. "Okay, and you'd better not forget to get something for us to eat. Having the same meal for the last few days is geting just a little old." Shikamaru grinned, he had to admit that he agreed. They may not have been as bad as rations, but eating the same food over and over might have been just as bad. "I'll get you something to eat. Don't worry." Shikamaru said before leaving the room. "That went alot better than I thought." Temari said with a smile as she walked back to the bed. "I guess I should set the board up when I wake up later." She said with a grin. "And this time I'll _really_ distract him." She said with a slightly lustful grin.

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"So how many do you think you can hit Neji?" Tenten said with a smirk. They had decided to go to the festival early and were happy to see that a small amount of the stalls were open ahead of time. None of the big games, competitions, or shows were open, but they did have some of the simpler stalls such as the Knock Down the Bottle game and Pop the Balloons. "You aren't the only person that's accurate. Even with the handicap they gave me this should be a piece of cake." They did indeed handicap him. He had to double the distance away from the stall and had to do it backwards because he was a ninja. The couple could have pretended they weren't shinobi, but it would have been boring if they did.

"I bet I can take the whole tower down in one shot." Neji said with a smirk. "Oh really, is that a challenge? What are the stakes?" Tenten asked, starting to become interested. "One kiss." Neji said, letting the normally stoic look or sarcastic 'mask' he usually wore disappear with a blush to replace it. "Well, in that case, toss away and see if you get lucky." Tenten said. Neji had a genuine smile as he walked out to the set mark and faced away from the stall. He made one solid toss behind him and hit the bottom middle bottle with the oversized ball and knocked the whole bottom row out, taking the top with it. "Congratulations, we have a winner, which stuffed animal would you like young man?" Neji grinned as he turned around and walked up to the stall. "Hmm... I'd like that one." He said pointing at a large panda bear. The man grabbed a metal rod with a hook on it and reached to the top to grab one of the pandas. "Why a panda?" Tenten asked as she walked up next to Neji. He gave her a weird look. "Shouldn't it be obvious?" He said as he accepted the panda. Tenten still looked confused until he turned towards her and gave the panda to her. "Oh thank you! You're the best Neji!" She said as he hugged the fuzzy stuffed creature.

Neji's smile of satisfaction turned to one of mischief. "Now about that bet..." Tenten didn't let him finish since the second she stopped hugging her new panda, she turned to Neji and planted a kiss on his lips that lasted for a few seconds. She didn't stop for such a long time that Neji was starting to run out of air.

Neither wanted to stop, but after a few minutes they heard the man at the stall. "Excuse me, could you please move so more customers can play?" Tenten finally pulled away giving Neji and her a chance to breath while they started walking away. "So, now that that's done and over with, when exactly are you going to take me out on that date you promised me?" Tenten asked. "How about later tonight?" Neji said, to Tenten's complete suprise. "T-tonight? Isn't that a bit quick? I mean when did you have time to plan this out?" Neji just smiled and continued to lead the two of them around the mostly empty festival grounds, not letting Tenten know the secret behind his plans.

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"How are you feeling Lee?" Sakura said as she started looking over the green-clad man, who was now officially stuck in bed for the day to let the strain from the gates dissipate. "Much better now that you are here, Sakura." He said, easily placing a blush on the pink-haired girl's face. "You're honestly the kindest person I've ever met, Lee." She said as she found a chair so she could sit next to him. "I noticed that genjutsu you used on those straws earlier, Sakura. Why did you use it?" Lee asked. He may not have been able to use ninjutsu and genjutsu, but he was still as much a genius as Neji and Shikamaru when he wanted to be. "Well, Temari has been asking for my help with Shikamaru. She said that she wants to get as much time as she can with him. She said that since I'm trustworthy, nobody would suspect me." She said. "So you basically cheated to get those two together?" Sakura flinched somewhat. "Yes." She focused on his injury and was trying to fix his twisted leg as much as she could. She was so focused that she didn't notice when he started sitting up and reached for her shoulder. She didn't have much warning, but released the jutsu before she did something wrong as she was pulled into Lee's arms, thankfully not the painful bone crushing hugs. "That was a very good and bad thing you did Sakura. You should not have cheated, but you did it with good intentions. Sakura melted into the hug as she embraced him back and shifted herself into the same bed as him, enjoying the feel of his arms around her. "Thank you, Lee." She said.

For a long time Sakura sat up next to him enjoying the rubbed her back and embraced her softly. The silence was finally broken as Lee started "So, do you think Temari and Shikamaru will embrace the power of love and youth they share?" He said, sounding oddly like his younger self. "Yes, Lee. I think they'll probably get along just fine once they both stop being so stubborn." She said still enjoying the warm arms around her. "That is good to hear, I look forward to seeing them when they finally do so." He said. "So do I, Lee."

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**You reviewers are awesome people, but I'm sad to say nobody reviewed. So does that means nobody was awesome? Just kidding, but really, I actually needed somebody to review people! Since nobody reviewed before I put this chapter up, a full week (or so) later, I decided to use a certain young lady I know in real life. Sorry to my fans (even though I only have a few as of now) but sometimes people can be so stubborn about reviewing. Oh well, if you want, if a person _does_ review between now and the next update, I will add you in the next chapter if you wish, or if you simply want to be recognized, that can be done. All it takes is a review peoples. As a matter of fact, from now on I will take the top five reviews of the last chapter and put them on the top of my next part of the story. Have fun, and I'll see you next chapter where we'll have more festival fun!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Phew, finally got around to posting this, sorry for the long delay, but it was hard writing this chapter. I had to go through the different perspectives and make sure I tie up any loose ends before I made them. If I messed up anywhere, I apologize beforehand. I checked once, but I'm known to make a few silly mistakes, so you never know. Oh and guess what? This story officially has OVER 1,000 hits! And because of this, I made this chapter just a little bit longer. Well I'm done distracting you while the lil white tiger hanyou kittens steal your money for me, so it's disclaimer time.**

_**Jumps up with his giant generic stamp with a white tiger symbol on it and stamps the disclaimer onto the fanfic.**_

**Disclaimer:**

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.**_

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Shikamaru had been going through the market place for hours and he still didn't know what to get her. He had a few ideas, but they were simply those, ideas. He noticed a man on the side of the street with a shogi board. "Hello sir, would you care if I join you for a game?" Shikamaru said as he walked up to the man. He looked to be in his thirties with blonde hair, blue eyes, and loose clothes. He wore his hair in a ponytail and had a beard that was darker than his head's hair color.

"Well, I was waiting for somebody to join me, but then again she said she would be late, so I guess one game couldn't hurt. I haven't lost yet to that woman, even if she is wiser than I am." That sounded good enough to Shikamaru. Shikamaru sat down on the opposite side of the man and the game began.

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Kankuro had left the bedroom even though he was supposed to stay in bed. It had turned out that since the explosion had blown up before it hit the ground there were no debris and the blast only burnt him slightly. Kankuro had decided that since everybody else was out and about, he might as well work on his puppets.

He had a hard time finding oil and parts and was going around from store to store looking for polish and oil for his puppets. He had been able to clean out Kuraori, but the water had rusted a couple of metal joints when he had cleaned it in the oasis water. "Sorry we don't sell machine parts or accessories here. I think there is a place down the street. There an unusual girl named Nezumi that runs it. She would be your best bet." The store owner said.

"Thanks." He said as he left the store and headed down the street. "It's about time, I was starting to think I would never find anything around here." He said to himself. Every other time he had come to this village he had oil, spare parts, and everything he possibly needed with him.

He had honestly thought that he had brought the scroll containing everything sealed within, but instead found out it was a scroll containing nothing but a broken music box along with other broken pieces and scraps of metal that he promised he would fix for a friend back in Suna. Since he didn't have the tools and such, he had to find a shop or deal with a heavy handicap in the next fight.

He walked into the store without looking at the sign. "Hello? I'm here looking for oil and some tools, can anybody help me?" His answer was alot of noise from the back, followed by a blur of a girl leaping out of the back room followed by a flood of metal which was quickly cut off by a slammed door.

"Um, hello. Are you Nezumi?" Kankuro asked still not seeing the girl while she fiddled with some objects below the counter.

"Yeah, I'll be with you in a sec." He heard from below the counter. Kankuro sat there waiting until a leather capped, overalls wearing girl with goggles on her forehead appeared.

"Sorry about that, the shop isn't normally that messy until it's almost festival time. Once that time comes though, everybody is bringing in trinkets that need fixin' and things for the many stalls and rides that are all over the place.

"It's okay, I only came by for some tools and some oil for my Kuraori, Karasu, and Sanshouo." The girl gave him a confused look. "For your black ant, crow, and salamander?" She asked, clearly not understanding what he meant.

"What? Oh, those are the names of my puppets. I'm a puppeteer from Suna and I need some parts and oil since I left my gear back in Suna." The girl thought about this for a second before a smile lit up her face.

"Well... if you would like I could give them a free tune up myself." She said, trying to hide the eagerness in her voice. Kankuro on the other hand recognized that sound immediately. "I'm sorry, but I can't let people start taking my puppets apart. Some oil and some metal pieces to repair the few metal pieces will be fine."

The girl pouted and started rummaging through the bottom of the desk in front of her until she pulled out a can of oil. "Well, I don't know what kind of parts you use, so all I can really help you with is the oil." She said, still pouting.

Kankuro knew he was going to regret this. "Well... I guess I don't... what I mean is that I really don't have much choice in the matter then since my puppets are useless without the right pieces..." The girl's face turned into a smile as she leaped over the desk with her tools in hand.

Kankuro held a hand up with three fingers on it. "On three conditions though. One is that I want everything back they way it was before you start on anything else." The girl nodded, understanding his logic.

"Two, you be extremely careful since puppets such as these carry needles, kunai, bombs, and poison in almost every crevice, and anything could trigger them if you don't watch what you are doing."

The girl gulped, completely understanding the reasoning behind it. "Okay, I understand, but what's the third condition?" She asked since he didn't tell her right off what that condition was. Kankuro sat there for a few minutes trying to decide how to phrase his question.

"The third condition is that I get to watch." The girl cocked an eyebrow. "What you don't trust me around your puppets?" She asked, seeming slightly offended. "No." He answered flatly.

"Then why?" She asked, still not understanding the third condition. "Not all puppets are made by the ones who use them. These three weren't made by me, they were made by Sasori." Alarms went off in the girl's head. "Sasori? The guy who made puppets out of people Sasori?" Kankuro nodded.

"Sasori created the puppet and because of that, I don't know everything about the puppets myself even though I've worked on them time and again myself. When I see it worked on, taken apart, or anything is done to them that reveals their inner workings, I learn more about them and learn how to use them better." He explained.

The girl nodded understanding what he meant. "In that case, how can I refuse? Thanks for letting my do this." Kankuro nodded, still not liking the idea that much. Regardless, he pulled out the first scroll and opened it. "This first puppet is named Karasu." And so the project began.

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Thirty minutes later the game was going smoothly while Shikamaru and the older man had started a nice conversation. "So you're going to be in town for a while? That's nice to hear." The man said as he made yet another move. Shikamaru wasn't focusing too much on the game, but was instead talking to the man and thinking of what to get for dinner tonight.

"Well it's only for three days. And we'll most likely spend all of the last day getting ready to leave. I am expecting alot of the people from our group to join in the festival tomorrow though. How about you?" Shikamaru said, still going back and forth taking pieces and placing new ones down as the game went on between the two of them.

"More or less, I have to go with my wife, but we can't do anything while we're there. We all have jobs we must do I guess, how about you? You said you have friends who are going, so why don't you go with them? I'm pretty sure you have a girl you can go with. You're thinking about her right now even."

Shikamaru looked up at him with a weird look. "How can you tell something like that?" He asked, placing another piece that he had taken the previous turn. "Because you're thinking about her so much you didn't notice this." He placed a piece on the board that holed up his king into a corner.

Shikamaru could only stare at the board for a minute or two before he got into his infamous thinking position. "Hm? That's something I haven't seen before..." He said as he watched the thinking Nara go over possibilities and the different moves and the probabilities.

He knew the solution and instantly opened his eyes to see the man staring intently at him jump backwards. "Finally done thinking?" He said watching Shikamaru start to form a smirk. "Yes, and I'm afraid you've lost." Shikamaru said.

"Is that so? Well in that case I guess I should give up shouldn't I?" He said sarcastically. "Well if you don't believe me, how about we turn it into a bet. If I win you help me with a problem I've been going over in my head." Shikamaru said.

The man grinned "Okay, and if I win, you have to take my daughter out on a date." Shikamaru's eyes widened for a second, but he managed to compose himself. "Um, what's her name?" He said, trying to decide on it. "Her name is Kuri." Well, Shikamaru did know he would win.

Wait a second, "Kuri? As in the clan leader's daughter Kuri?" The man looked at him and laughed loudly. "I guess I'm caught. My daughter's name is Tora Kuri, which makes me Tora Shiro, the clan leader's husband. Don't worry too much about it. I would have to get her to agree to it first, and last time my wife and I did that both her and her mother got into a heated argument. The only reason I asked was to see how much you really believe you will win." Shikamaru sighed in relief as he moved a piece and took his opponent's piece.

"Hm... Didn't expect that. You're pretty good at this." He moved another piece and tried to put the king in check. Shikamaru blocked. "You never told me what your problem was, um... what's your name?" The older man said as he moved to stop that piece again.

"My name is Shikamaru. I've been trying to find the right foods to get for my roommate and I to eat tonight since we're both tired of rations. I need some help finding food to eat, I'll explain the rest when I finish you next turn."

The man cocked an eyebrow and took a long look at the board before his eyes went wide open. "How the... you're _very_ good at this." Shiro said as he finally moved a piece. "Thank you, now if I'm right... this," Shikamaru said as he made a move, "is checkmate." Shiro grinned and admitted defeat.

"That was a very good game Shikamaru, now I'll be happy to help with your problem right after I play against my wife." Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow. "And when is she going to arrive?" The shadow user asked, wanting to get it done and over with quickly. "As soon as you get out of her seat so she can sit down."

Shikamaru's eyes went wide as he looked behind him to see the black haired, short lady with green eyes standing behind him smiling. "I'm so sorry Mrs. Tora!" He said as he jumped out of the seat and bowed.

"It's okay, young man, you seemed to be enjoying your game with my husband and I learned a little from watching you, this should be a relatively quick game." She said with a sadistic grin, which caused her husband to squirm a little.

Ten minutes later and Yume was again on the defensive as she had mentioned she usually was. "Why the hell are you good at this? Can't we try something else that I'm good at? Like a taijutsu match or something?" Shiro just continued to smile as Shikamaru started to notice something weird about the match. "Well if you want, we could spar after this, you don't have to do anything else today anyway, right?"

She smiled at this and made her move. "Checkmate." Her husband's eyes bulged. "Wh-what!? How!?" He started looking at the board. "Everytime she guarded, she moved blocked the path of your king's moves. Then she put you in check by placing a bishop on the board, very well thought out moves, and you don't have any pieces that can block or attack that piece since you used them all attacking."

Shiro just looked at the board and looked up at his smirking wife. "Okay you won, _lil' lady_." Her smirk turned into a glare. "Did you say something, honey?" She said in a threatening voice. "Nothing, I just said you won. I have to help out our friend here, I'll see you in an hour at the dojo, okay? Love ya, bye!" He said the last part quickly as he grabbed Shikamaru's arm and started walking quickly away before she could do irrepairable damage to him.

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Sakura was still yet to leave Lee's side as they had gone from sitting side by side on the bed, to laying down holding onto eachother. "You know Lee, I didn't think it would be this nice to be hugged by you, considering the times I've seen you nearly kill something with a hug." She said, letting a small giggle escape. Lee's smile grew a little as he continued to rub her back. "I learned that a Sakura Blossom is to be treated delicately and lovingly or it cannot truly blossom." He said.

"So about that date, Sakura... Would you mind if we went to a place in this village?" Sakura's head shot up and looked straight at Lee's smiling face. "Really? But how? We don't have any clothes to wear besides our fighting clothes and we don't know anything about this village really." She said, listing off a few more reasons afterwards to which Lee simply smiled more and more.

"It is okay Sakura, I have planned everything out myself. I have nicer clothes for the both of us to wear and I have made arrangements at a nice restaurant for the two of us." Sakura looked at him in pure shock before it turned into a smile and she half-leaped from her position next to him in the bed.

"Okay I'll help you with your sprained ankle, just give me a second, okay Lee?" He looked at her with a smile of anticipation since he was still troubled by the sight of crutches ever since the incident after the chuunin exam, and didn't want to use them to get to and back from the restaurant.

Fourty minutes later and Lee was in the bathroom changing, it had taken only a few minutes to help fix the leg, but apparently Lee was still having trouble since he had been in the bathroom for a long time.

"Are you ready to come out now, Lee? I need to change, too, and I still haven't even seen the thing I'm wearing yet." She said to the bathroom door, slowly losing patience. "I am sorry Sakura, but I am having trouble. I do not usually wear this type of clothing and it feels unusual." She knew that what he said was true, but half an hour to put on a yukata was definitely pushing the line between unusual and just plain sad.

"Okay, I am coming out now Sakura." She heard from the door just as it started to open. "Wow... Lee you look amazing!" He wore a jade green yukata with lighter green tree leaves floating down the sides. "Here, let me help with this." She said as she fixed a few of the little, or big mistakes he made, practically redressing him at some points.

"There, much better." She said with a satisfactory grin. She basically retightened the obi and straightened the wrinkles out of the clothes. "Now where's my set of clothes?" She asked him while still examining him in the mirror the two of them were standing in front of. "They are on the hanger, on the hook, on the opposite side of the door. I look forward to seeing you wear it, Sakura." He said just before she stepped in flashing one more smile as before closing the door.

Ten minutes later she came out of the bathroom wearing a dark pink kimono with Sakura Blossoms on it, and a lighter pink obi that matched her hair. "Thank you, Lee." She said with a blush. Lee was too busy looking at how beautiful she looked to him to notice she had said anything. "Lee...? Lee. Lee, snap out of it!" Lee shook his head before smiling widely and hugging her tightly, thankfully not enough to hurt, but enough to show he admired the way she looked.

"You look absolutely gorgeous, Sakura!" He said as he picked her up and twirled her around, giving Sakura's blush a new shade. "So where are we going Lee? I knew we would be going someplace nice, but is it really this nice?" Lee nodded. "It's Katsu's Sushi and I heard that it's very formal. It costs a pretty yen I heard and I'm looking forward to eating there, especially with beautiful company such as yours." He said as he took her hand and led her to the door. "I can't wait to see it, Lee." She said as Lee led her out of the room. This was bound to be a wonderful night.

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"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Tenten cried as she wrapped her arms around Neji's neck in a hug. He had gone through the process of buying her nice clothes and arranging a place at a restaraunt for the two of them to eat. He had suggested Lee do this once with Sakura a long time ago, but he doubted that his over-zealous teammate even remembered a single word besides his name.

"So where are we going, Neji? Is it someplace nice? Oh, can I see the dress? What kind of food do they serve there? Will it be crowded?" She kept asking question after question leaving the Hyuga speechless until she finished. "The dress is in the bathroom on a hangar, and as for the rest of your questions..." He stalled to see the expectant look of Tenten as she waited for his reply.

"It's a suprise." She nearly fell over. "What!?" He stood in front of her with a slight smirk. "Sorry, but it's a suprise." Tenten didn't give up and instead came up with the saddest pout she could while she leaned against him for the added effect. "Please, can I have a hint at least? Even a small one? Please, Neji?" He could feel his resolve faltering under her plees, but managed not to give away the suprise.

"You'll find out once we arrive. Until then you will have to be patient." He said as he walked into the bathroom to change into the clothes he had bought for himself. " Once I'm done, I'll wait for you downstairs in front of the hotel, okay?" He asked. She nodded and gave up the sad pout in exchange for a look of anticipation. "Okay, just be sure to hurry up."

Neji came out in less than five minutes in an elegant white and silver yukata. "You look very handsome, Neji." Tenten said in a very seductive voice, making the Hyuga's face earn a new shade of pink. "Er, Thanky you. Your clothes are inside, I chose them myself, I hope you like them." He said while he grabbed some money and started for the door. "I'll see you downstairs." Neji said as he left the room.

Tenten smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. She wore a full legnth red kimono with flowers flowing down one side. It fit her perfectly and she couldn't help but admire Neji's attention to detail. "Neji, I don't know how you got this thing, but I do know that I'm going to thank you for it in the best way possible." She said as a dirty thought or two went through her mind and she started on her way to meet Neji downstairs.

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"And you're one-hundred percent sure you don't need any help Temari? Of the eight of us, you were hurt pretty badly. Even Kankuro's burns weren't really that bad compared to getting hurt the way you were without medical aid." Gai asked, obviously worried about the girl.

"I'm sure. I don't need anymore pillows, I don't need anything to eat, I don't need anything to drink, I'm not too hot, I'm not too cold, I don't want to play shogi, I don't want to do anything, I just want to rest some, okay?" She asked desperately. Gai was by far the most hyperactive person in their team at the moment and was having trouble dealing with the rule keeping him in the hotel.

He had been offering to help her with everything from fluffing her pillows to getting her things to eat and drink. He was so steadfast in this mission that he had literally gone the last few hours doing nothing but asking if she needed this or that.

"Okay, I guess I'll go back to my room then..." He said, making her feel slightly guilty. He seemed so child-like sometimes that she couldn't help be feel slightly sorry for him. That didn't stop her from letting him go though since she was still reminded of his constant offers to help by the headache that was now pulsing in her head.

"Gai, I have a proposition for you. If you can convince Sakura to fix your arm for you, Shikamaru and I will remove that rule keeping you within the hotel grounds for the day and tomorrow, okay?" She said, feeling too guilty to just do nothing. Gai smiled and was out the door looking around the whole hotel for the pink haired kunoichi, leaving the wind mistress to her rest finally.

"Ah, peace and quiet at last." She layed back into the pillows that were now covering her bed and fell fast asleep.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea Shiro?" Shikamaru asked as he was lead around the market place gathering supplies. "I'm more than sure, I did almost the same thing with Yume befoer we married eachother. I was a great chef... Well, a self proclaimed great chef. But anyway, it's a very nice thing to have a meal cooked the way you want it with the ingredients of your choice." Shiro said as they started going through the different vegetables that were available.

"I guess you have a point, but I am not as skilled in the culinary arts, and we don't have a kitchen in the hotel." Shikamaru said, trying to point out the hole in his plan. This didn't stop Shiro though. "True, but the hotel owners do have one usually meant for room service. Give this food to them and they will cook it exactly how you ask and they will be more than pleased. Just tell them Shiro suggested it and they'll be even happier to oblige."

Shikamaru realized how well Shiro had actually worked out. He had planned out everything for the young man. "You don't seem like a very enthusiastic person, Shikamaru. If you're trying this hard it must mean she's really something special, who is she?" Shiro said, obviously enjoying the younger man's company. "Her name is Temari and she's a ninja from the Sand Village."

Shikamaru noticed the change instantly. "Wait, _Nara_ Shikamaru? As in the boy that beat Temari in that chuunin exam?" He asked, clearly being suprised. "You must be incredibly skilled to beat her like that. She's an excellent tactician and I have never beaten her at Shogi, add to that her combat skills and I just don't see how you could have beaten her."

Shikamaru knew he shouldn't have been suprised, but he was. "First of all, yes I am that Nara Shikamaru. Second, I didn't beat her, I forfeit the match because it was getting troublesome. And third, the person with the most pieces in Shogi doesn't always win. Just because she's stronger physically doesn't mean she would win." He said, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

Shiro held up his arms defensively, using the groceries to cover as much as he could. "I apologize, it's just that we've heard nonstop about you whenever Temari is here. Our daughter, Kuri, is almost like Temari's little sister. She is constantly trying to be like her 'big sister' and loves to hear stories about the Nara boy that Temari talks about so often." Shikamaru seemed to calm down after hearing that.

"So, you think this will work with Temari? I mean, do you think she will like this?" Shikamaru asked, obviously straining himself to ask. "Yes, and now that I know who we're dealing with, I can help add to your night's plans. I'm sure you know that she loves roasted chestnuts and steamed vegetables. She's not a big fan of seafood though. My suggestions would be steak with steamed vegetables and butter rolls. Pretty basic, but using the right spices, you could make this a very good meal."

Shikamaru smiled, he knew she liked a few things, but nothing for a meal except the vegetables. "As far as deserts go, I'd suggest something extra sweet with a fine texture to it. You can decide on what that is." He said as he started rolling up his sleeve to look at his watch. "Holy crack monkey from hell!" Shikamaru looked at the man as if he had grown another head. "I'm sorry Shikamaru, but if I'm not at the dojo in five minutes, despite being ten minutes away, I'll either have one of the best nights of my life, or the last night of my life."

Before Shikamaru could ask him what he meant, the man shoved the groceries into the younger one's arms and ran off away from the market. "Well... That was unusual." he turned back to the market and started going through the stalls back and forth trying to find what he wanted.

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Left, right, over the house, and... I'm there! "You're late Shiro!" The man flinched as he entered the clan dojo. "Uh, heheh, sorry I was helping that boy with his suprise date for a girl he likes." This didn't stop Yume from glaring at him. "Would it make you feel better if I told you it was somebody you knew?" Yume's glare changed to a look that said 'prove it' without losing the lethality.

"It was Shikamaru, _Nara_ Shikamaru!" The glare disappeared as she ran towards her husband and glomped him with a smile on her face. "That was him!? How is he? Is he anything like she described?" Yume asked again and again as she hugged tighter and tighter cutting off the air flow of her husband. "H-he... is... urk... a-air!" Yume blushed and let go so he could breathe.

He took in deep gasps, trying to compose himself in the process. Once he finally succeeded he spoke. "He's just like she described, all the way down to the lazy tendencies. He likes her too, by the way." Yume's smile widened.

"Well, that's good, now we can find a good reason to ally ourselves with the two nations. I mean what better place to live for those two than between the two villages they were born and are assosciated with. I guess this means we should make room for a second clan, huh?" Yume said thoughtfully.

Shiro saw an opening he had been hoping for. "I suppose this means we should work on expanding our own clan, too, to make sure that it stays as the superior clan in this village." He said in a tone he knew Yume couldn't resist. "And I can think of no better way than..." He didn't need to continue as Yume started to half drag Shiro away from the dojo and into their bedroom. "Works every time." He whispered to himself as Yume pushed him backward onto the bed after locking the door.

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**I tried to make this chapter longer than usual in honor of the 1k hits. Once I hit either 2.5k or 10k (depending on how quickly it happens) I will do something, either a longer chapter or a lil one-shot or something along those lines, I don't know yet. NO LEMONS IN THIS STORY! Yes I hate to say it, but you will see no nudity or sex scenes of any kind. Sorry, but I just can't. So um, please review so I know how to improve next time, I got a review recently and it helped big time!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey fans, I dunno when this is being posted cause I'm REALLY not up to updating this week, but if it did, I guess I found some motivation. Today's fluffiness is brought to you by Whiven Corp. I'm not very good at fluffiness either... but then again I didn't write before I made these fanfics, so it's an off start either way. I would basically call this either the midway point, or the just after the midway point chapter. We still have three days and half a journey to go, so let's get this show on the road!**_** Pumps his fist into the air while leading a group of disgruntled fans urging him to hurry up.**_

**P.S. I found out that Kohaku (the name used all over the place for both men and women) means Amber. Just so I don't end up getting reviews later saying that it's a guys only or girls only name, I've actually checked and it's used for both.**

_**Jumps up with his giant generic stamp, looks at it and tosses it to the side and instead pulls out a bed sized mallet stamp and smashes it on the**_

**Disclaimer:**

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.**_

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Kankuro stared in horror as he watched the girl take Karasu apart, one piece at a time. "A-are you sure you know how to put him back together?" Kankuro said as the girl popped the face off of the puppet's head causing him to flinch.

"Of course I know how to put him back together. I have a photographic memory and can memorize just about anything I see. Don't get me wrong, I'm nothing compared to a sharingan user, but I can memorize just about anything if I can see it." She said as she started looking through the inside of the puppet's head, being sure to avoid all of the dangerous tools and weapons, or remove them carefully.

"Huh... This is strange... It looks like you weren't joking about the Sasori's puppets thing." She said as she moved closer to get a better look at a certain part with her special headgear. The Eyes as she called them, were a pair of goggles with tons of different magnifications and lights attached from different angles. It looked ridiculous, but apparently it was a useful set of equipment.

"Ah, here we are." She used a screwdriver to pull a couple pieces out and showed Kankuro a piece hidden beneath the hair covered part of the puppet's skull. "Have you ever seen this piece before? It looks like a wierd injecting device. Here," She said as she put it on the table, "try using it and see what it does." Kankuro nodded and motioned for her to back up. He connected some chakra strings to the puppets head as it started to clatter and clink to life.

"We should get behind something. An injecting device sounds a bit dangerous." The girl nodded and lead Kankuro and the head to a empty room with a wall with a slot to see through. "Okay in three. One. Two. Three!" Kankuro activated the device and watched as the hair seemed to stiffen momentarily and needles appeared from the back of the head and lined the wall behind the head.

"Holy shit! This Sasori guy musta been one hell of a puppeteer to think up something like that. He even used the hair to hide the holes they needles come out of." She said as the clattering from the head died and they both left the safety of the wall to inspect the damage to the surrounding walls.

The girl let out a low whistle as she saw some of the paper hanging around on the walls change color. "See that? That paper changes color when exposed to poisons, acids, and what-not. Those things have all kinds of poisons in them. See that paper there and there?" She said as she pointed to papers that had been hit and were more than one color. "There has to be at least four or five different poisons in each one of 'em." She said as she started writing something down on a little pad.

"Anything else in the head?" Kankuro asked as he started to examine the faceless head. If anybody were to ask him if he knew everything about the puppet, he would normally lie and say yes. But now he knew he had a chance to find out and wasn't about to let that chance get away. "Well, if you don't mind helping, we could go over the puppets together, that way you can point out the things you haven't seen before."

Kankuro smiled as he went over the idea. He may not have liked the idea originally, but it was starting to look better and better. She was a great mechanic with a room to test the new toys, she was willing to let him help, and she was honestly easy on the eyes. "Alright then, we'll work on them. Just be sure to ask if you aren't sure about something." He said.

She visibly brightened as she pulled out another set of tools and handed them over to him. Kankuro accepted them and carried Karasu's head out of the room after retrieving the needles. This was going to be an interesting experience.

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Shikamaru walked into the hotel with the groceries and walked over to the counter. "Um, Miss?" He said, trying to get the receptionist's attention. She looked over at him and smiled. "Can I help you sir?" She asked, being as overly sweet as possible.

"Um, yeah, I was wondering if I could have this cooked for me here in the hotel kitchen for me and my roommate." The lady cocked an eyebrow and looked at him. "And where may I ask did you get an idea like that, sir?" She asked.

"Tora Shiro said that you could help me, and he said that the cooks here know Temari so they would cook for the two of us if I brought everything. I even wrote out a list of what to make." The woman instantly grinned ear to ear and eagerly accepted the bags of groceries meant for Shikamaru and Temari's dinner. She quickly left the desk and made her way into a room he couldn't see into from the desk.

Five minutes later the woman came back out with that same grin and took her place behind the desk once again. "Okay sir, when would you like them to be delivered to your room?" She asked after pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. "Any time is okay. Just be sure to let us know you are coming first." She nodded and wrote something down on the notepad.

"We'll have it sent to your room as soon as it's ready." She said. Shikamaru nodded and smiled slightly as he started to head upstairs to the room he and Temari were sharing while a frantic Gai kept ran by asking about Sakura.

He knocked twice and opened the door to see Temari fast asleep on the bed. With a grin he pulled out a Shogi board and started setting the pieces in their proper place so that he can play against himself while she slept. He would wake her up when the food arrived. He started placing the final pieces on the board when he heard some shuffling from the bed next to him.

"Gai, didn't I ask you to--Oh! It's you Shikamaru!" She said as she sat up in her bed. Shikamaru didn't hear a word, he was still too busy gazing at her blankly. "What is there something on my face?" She asked as she moved a hand up to feel for anything, but finding nothing there. "No, I've never seen you with your hair down like that before..."

Temari's face went from confused to burning-hot red. She had taken it down so that she could sleep more comfortably and didn't really think much about it since at the time Gai had been trying to fluff her pillows with his good arm. "Th-thank you." She said, trying to stop the growing redness of her face.

Shikamaru simply nodded and continued to stare with a look of pure awe. "Are you going stare at me all day, Shikamaru, or are you going to let me play?" She said, trying to get his attention off of her for at least a second so she could put her hair up while he wasn't looking. He fell for it and looked down at the board, trying to hide the embarressed look on his face for being caught staring.

"So, am I going to see you put your hair down someday, too? Or is it stuck like that?" Temari asked. Shikamaru didn't say anything, but instead started the game by making the first move. "Okay then, the next mission on my list is to get your hair out of that tie it's in and see it down."

Shikamaru grunted and reached back and took off the object he used to hold his hair up. "Happy?" He said as he let his hair fall down past his shoulders. Temari just nodded with a toothy grin. "Good, it's your move."

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"Here we are, Sakura." Lee said with a triumphant tone. "It looks nice Lee, but maybe we should actually go inside before we starve." Sakura half-said and half-pleaded, remembering that neither had had anything to eat since the day before.

She covered her stomache as it began to growl. "Sorry Sakura, I guess I'm a little hungry." Lee said as he covered his stomache. "Wait, you? I thought that was me." Sakura admitted. Lee smiled sheepishly. "I guess it might have been both of us." He said as he lead her into the restaurant just before another couple turned the corner to the restaurant, both missing couples missing one another.

"Wow, is this where we are eating Neji?" She asked him as she stared at the resaurant itself. It was big to say the least. "How do you have the money to pay for a restaurant like this?" She asked. She hadn't noticed him going on any more missions lately, and the ones they had been going on haven't exactly had a generous pay to go with them.

"Have you ever noticed the new weaopns I use? Or the new clothes I wear?" He asked, leaving a hint in the questions. "What? That's unusual... Actually now that you mention it, I haven't ever seen you use a new weapon. You use the same exact weapons and wear the same kinds of clothes most of the time." She said, thinking out loud. "Oh! I get it now!" He never really spent much of his earnings on anything except for food, drinks, and his home back in Konoha.

Neji grinned when the look or realization spread across her face. "Can we go inside now? Or would you prefer to just stand here?" Tenten said. "I was just waiting for you." Neji said back, leading her towards the door. "I have a feeling tonight is gonna be interesting." She said to herself as she entered.

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"That thing looks a bit dangerous... Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Nezumi asked as she watched Kankuro climb into Kuroari. "Yeah, this puppet is safe as long as you don't close it or activate the arched blades in the back of the body in the crevices, or the saw-blades in the limbs." Nezumi nodded.

"So Nezumi, how long have you been doing this?" He asked as he started pulling a couple of the blades out of the body to clean them. "First of all, call me Kohaku. Nezumi is my family name. Not many people who live here know that since most of them stick to what they're always used to always using. Since they don't visit me they don't know my given name, and they assume my name is Nezumi because of the shop sign 'Nezumi's Mechanics'. I make house calls to the clans if something in their household is broke, but for the most part nobody really seems me that often."

Kankuro nodded in understanding. People seemed to call him, his brother, and his sister the sand siblings so much that it almost seemed as if their last name was non-existent. So over or underusing of a name was something he was used to. "Second, I've been doing this since I was six or seven and my dad was running this place as a normal mechanics shop. We did everything from broken clocks to puppets... er the puppets meant for performances, not combat puppets." She explained.

Kankuro knew why she had corrected herself. All of Suna's puppeteers were reluctant to ever let their practice leave their village. Even neighboring little towns and villages were lucky to ever see a combat puppet. Todays puppeteers weren't as stubborn and let some of the basics loose to neighboring lands just in case they needed spare parts and weren't near their own homeland.

The girl started smiling as she continued to take Karasu's body apart after putting the head back together. Kankuro couldn't help but be curious. "What're you smiling about?" He asked.

"Up until my father died a couple years ago, I never really saw too many weapons in need of mechanical maintenance. This is the second time I've ever seen the inside of a puppet before." She said as she started to pull out a pipe full of poison smoke bombs from next to armpit area of Karasu.

Kankuro flinched slightly. He may not have minded too much that his father, the Kazekage before Gaara, had died, but he knew that for most people it was a generally sore subject. "W-well, um, who's puppet was it? It might be somebody I know." He said, trying to avoid the father subject.

"I dunno... I thought he said something like 'Shido', but that's the most I can honestly remember. He had only one puppet and it was in shambles. He called his puppet Tuigekisha. He was a tracker ninja, so it kind of made sense that he name his puppet 'Chaser', right?" She said. "It had alot of paralyzing poisons in it and it looked kind of like an aerodynamic wolf, fangs and all." She explained

Kankuro knew who she was talking about. He was an okay combat puppeteer, but his greatest skill was his ability to be able to move while still controlling his puppet. He managed to beat Kankuro once or twice in a sparring match between the two of them when he changed his chakra string targets from Tuigekisha to Karasu when he moved up close. After that had happened Kankuro didn't stand a chance, but he learned some valuable lessons from him.

"Hm, I know the guy, he's pretty good. I haven't heard from him since back in my chunnin days." He said as he started remembering a thing or two he learned from the guy. "He seemed to have a few unconventional ideas, but they were pretty good." Kankuro admitted.

Kohaku seemed to think on this for a moment. "It's funny how often we get to know people we'll never see again. I will probably only see you again a couple times a year if you're training out here. If even that much, but it's still something people treasure." She said looking sadly at the puppets in front of her.

Kankuro's conscience started whispering told him. "You said you make house calls right?" He said, a slight grin growing on his face. "Yeah, but most of the clans don't exactly like using big complex machines so it's not too often, why?" She asked, wanting to know where this was leading.

"Well, how about to other villages? You wouldn't mind making house calls even if they were far away would you?" He said. A look of realization dawned on Kohaku's face when she realized what he was leading up to. "Yeah, but I live here and could never leave my homeland permanently." She said.

"How about once a month? I know some kids at the Suna Academy who could use a pointer or two about maintaining their tools and puppets. I think you would be the perfect person to the job. I could find a place for you a week in one of the nicer hotels and you could help do this," he said motioning to his puppets, "with some of the less stubborn puppeteers' puppets."

Kohaku's smile grew wide and as soon as Kankuro finally got out of Kuroari, he was attacked by a flying mechanic girl as she half tackled and half hugged him. "Thank you, Kankuro!" She said as she placed a kiss on his cheek. The only thing that helped hide the blush that rose was the face paint he always wore. "Y-you're welcome." He said as he grinned back at the smaller girl.

"So when should I visit first?" She asked look at him hopefully. "Well how about this. Me and Temari need to head back to Suna once we finish getting that guy we put in this village's jail back to Konoha. On the way back, I'd be willing to take on a passenger in about a week I think when we get back here." He said.

Kohaku hadn't let go since she first hugged him, and chance of escape Kankuro might have had we removed from his mind the second he finished that sentence and she tightened her hug to the point where Kankuro was happy it wasn't around the neck. Once the girl heard what sounded like a cracking back she blushed and released her death grip-like hold.

"So we finished up Kuroari since most of his body is hollow. We can check the head later. How about Karasu? How's he coming along?" He said as the girl picked up another screw driver out of the belt she was wearing. "He's doing great, I've fixed a few broken pieces. How'd he get busted up anyway?" She asked.

"Did you remember hearing an explosion early this morning? Karasu was in front of me and took the brunt of the blast off of me, the others didn't really see him there because it was rushed, but I used him as a shield since he was the only one out. All I really did was getting burns on both arms and felt like I was hit by a brick wall. Karasu didn't do as well though." He said as he looked at the pile of broken cogs and various pieces of crushed metal.

"Don't worry, unless you're inside this guy, you wouldn't be able to tell anything was wrong." She said. "So only one puppet left after him. Would you like to do the honors?" She half-asked and half-stated. She couldn't release the puppets from the scrolls herself so she had no choice.

"Okay, I'll be there in a second." He started moving to his third scroll to release it. It had certainly been an interesting experience, and he was looking forward to what would come next.

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"Um, hello? I reserved a table for two under 'Green Beast' sir." Lee said as he held Sakura close to him. The man nodded and lead them to a table near a window with a candle in the center of the table. Lee moved to one of the chairs and pulled it out for her to sit. "Thank you, Lee."

Lee moved to his chair and sat down as a lady walked up with menus in her hand. "Here you go, what would you like to drink?" She said as she handed them menus to them. "I will have some milk." Lee said since the woman had turned to him first. "And for the lady?" She asked as she turned to Sakura. "I'll just have some water." The pink-haired girl said.

"Okay, do you two know what you would like to eat or would you prefer to wait." The lady asked. "We know what we are having." Lee said to Sakura's suprise. "We'll both have umeboshi with some rice." He said. Sakura blushed since that happened to be one of her favorite foods and ordered the same for himself. The woman nodded and walked off to the kitchen.

"That was very sweet of you, Lee. I don't remember telling you what my favorite foods were though..." Sakura said. Lee just beamed with pride as he took a match and lit the candle in the middle of the table.

"I wonder what everybody else is doing tonight?" Lee said causing Sakura to giggle. "Don't worry about them Lee, tonight it's just the two of us. Either way they aren't in our shoes, so they aren't having nearly as great a time as we are." She said as she gave Lee a loving, warm smile.

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**I think a few of you can see what's gonna be happening pretty soon in the story, and for those that don't, I'm not gonna ruin the suprise.**

**Sorry for the lack of updates, I wish I could say it's temporary, but... Let's just say it's pretty bad. A friend of mine, almost like a sister, lost her unborn baby recently and I was there when it happened. I've been talking to her and doing what I can for her, but it's pretty hard for everybody when something like that happens. I wrote a poem dedicated to her and her baby and I decided to post it here, as well as on my myspace. If you would like, you can offer a few words in the review section for her. Thank you for anything you do say. The poem is simple, but the message hidden (well, not really hidden) was powerful enough to help her out alot.**

**Dedicated to Rosie and her late son Psymon:**

**Storms and Rainbows**

A storm has come with no end in sight,

Nothing can be done but to face this plight.

I wait for days and weeks and my spirits are low,

I pray for an end and to see the coming rainbow.

The winds are destroying and raging all around,

Nothing but pelting and howling for sound.

The storm starts subsiding and rain has died some.

I look up and smile warmly, my rainbow has come.


	10. Chapter 10

**FREEZE! WARNING! STOP! IF YOU DID NOT CHECK CHAPTER 9 FOR THE WHOLE PAGE AFTER IT WAS UPDATED, DO SO NOW! IF YOU DO NOT YOU WILL HAVE MISSED ALOT OF THE SCENES AND NOT UNDERSTAND SOME OF WHAT IS GOING ON!**

**Hello one and all, I plan on making this page better than the last. I realize that I made a few mistakes on the last one. One being that it was late. Two being that it was rushed (even if it was for your sakes.) Finally, I kept you waiting a LONG time and I shouldn't have done that to you, the fans.**

_**Jumps up with his giant generic stamp, looks at it and tosses it to the side and instead pulls out a bed sized mallet stamp and smashes it on the story.**_

**Disclaimer:**

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd probably abuse that privilege.**_

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"And you lady? What will you have to drink?" The woman asked Tenten after having taken Neji's order. "I'm in the mood for something sour and sweet. I'll have some lemonade." She said with a smile. "Okay, do you know what you would you like to eat?" She asked. Neji nodded and looked to Tenten. "I would like to have some meatbuns and rice." She said, announcing one of her favorite foods. Neji grinned. "I'll have the same thing." He said. The lady wrote down the order and left with a grin. That had been the second man she had met this same night that had ordered the same thing as his girlfriend. "I'll be back as soon as I can with your meals."

"So how long have you had this planned, Neji?" Tenten asked with a grin. "Not long, I gave this idea to Lee a long time ago to do with Sakura but he never did. I decided it was a good idea to try myself." Neji admitted.

Tenten's grin grew into a smile as they waited. "So how is Hiashi? I know you practice with him alot, but I don't remember actually seeing him with you." Neji smiled. "Hiashi has been training me to follow after Hinata's example. Ever since Hinata took over the clan and brought everybody together with that new Key Seal to replace the old one." Tenten quirked an eyebrow. "Key Seal? I don't remember hearing about or ever seeing a new seal."

Neji nodded as he smiled and removed everything covering his forehead to show that the seal that used to be there was missing. Tenten's eyes went wide. Neji closed his eyes as he focused and a bird shaped seal appeared on his forehead. "This seal removes the previous seals in the place and removes the Byakugan on death like the Caged Bird Seal. It can be activated on will and can be removed only by the Hyuga Clan and Hokage." He said.

"I owe Hinata everything. Hinata doesn't like being the clan leader even though she is more than capable and is planning on naming me the new head of the clan once she finishes settling a few other things among the family. That would make you the girlfriend of one of the most powerful clan leaders in Konoha." He said. "No."

Neji looked like he had been kicked in the groin. "What!?" Tenten smiled. "I wouldn't be the girlfriend of the new head of the family because I plan on being married to him before that happens." She said with a sly grin. She must have had some inside information from a source good source.

"So who told you about that part of the plan?" Neji said, recovering from the turn down. "Hinata, of course. Who else could I learn about the plan to get married before you became the clan's leader from? I did say I hadn't seen Hiashi." She said with a wink.

Neji sighed. He knew Hinata had trouble keeping secrets from her friends, but he made her promise not to tell anybody. "Don't worry, it's not Hinata's fault, I pried it out of her. I know a few of her weaknesses, including information on a certain blond-haired future Rokudaime that she appreciated too much to hold back any secrets." She said with an air of pride.

"Really? What kind of information? And do you mean secret_s_?" Neji said starting to get worried about what she could have learned. "Well for one, Naruto's not as dumb as he seems. He knows Hinata likes him and he can't come up with a way to show he cares about her, too. I overheard him trying to find something to say to her in one of the empty training areas while he was practicing some of his more advanced jutsu. Ever since I made it a habit to pass by closely on my way to the Hyuga's complex. You wouldn't believe half the stuff he says." She said with a devious grin.

Neji just shook his head. "I guess if he's dumb enough to say it loud enough for you to hear it. He should expect somebody to hear him." Neji said. "Wrong again, I think he knew I was there since everytime I passed by he spoke up a little louder. I snuck up once to see if it was an accident or not, and he was almost whispering. Once I stepped on a twig he spoke up a little more so I could hear him. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was planning on it." Tenten corrected.

Neji grinned. "For somebody who spent most of his childhood not knowing anything, he seems intelligent enough." He said wondering how the blond had been able to grow so much. "Makes you wonder how long he actually has been that way." Tenten said. "I mean as far as I can remember, everytime I've seen him fight he used his shadow clones pretty well, remember the chunnin exam? Or that time he got into a fight with Tsunade when they were both drunk? He's always used the clones the right way." Tenten added.

Neji's eyes went wide. "Y-you're right! Maybe he has gotten wiser over the years, but he's never really been _that_ much of an idiot with the shadow clones unless he's angry or rushing." He said as the realization dawned on him.

Tenten just giggled. "I guess this means we should give him more credit than we used to, eh Neji?"

Neji sighed in defeat. "I guess so. Here comes our food." He added as he saw the waitress come out with their food. "Mmm, smells good even from here." Tenten stated breathing in deeply with her nose. But before I eat, I need to go to the bathroom." She said getting up carefully. Neji nodded and got up as well. "You don't need to follow me in Neji, I'm a big girl." She said, poking fun at the Hyuga's expense. "I have to go, too." He said trying not to let the embaressment get to him.

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"Now this is more like it! Look at this thing, it's huge! You're even supposed to climb into it!" Said Kohaku as she skittered around the puppet looking at all the nooks and crannies of it, 'oo'ing and 'ah'ing at all the details and mechanical pieces that she was going to be taking apart and putting together.

"There's enough room for more than one person, so we can both work on it at the same time. Which side would you like to start on?" He said as he walked up to the salamander shaped puppet. "I'll work on the left side. I'm used to going across machinery left to right so that I can remember where everything goes later on." She said as she stood up after examining the puppet's under belly.

"I think this is the first time I've actually taken a good hard look at this guy. I mean I've used him for a few years, but he was usually nothing more than a shield." Kankuro admitted as he moved to the right side of the puppet and began cleaning the parts. "I guess he might be put to good use fighting too, but I never considered him that way."

Kohaku laughed. "Well you might be suprised, some shields are as offensive as they are defensive." She said as she took a few pieces apart on the inside in the way of the leg joints. "Hey, Kankuro, does this piece look familiar?" She said as she looked close at a piece.

Kankuro turned around just as she turned around to look towards him and both heads made a collision. "Owie! Ow ow ow!" She grasped at her head as she winced in pain. Kankuro wasn't as vocal, but still gave a grunt of pain. "Are you okay Kohaku?" He said after he shook away the dizzy feeling.

"I'm a little dizzy, but I think I'll be fine." She replied rubbing her head. "Let me have a look at it. I have some wrapping and healing ointments in a little box near the front of this guy that I use in case I'm hurt during a fight, so we could put something on it if you want." He said as he went to retrieve the said box.

Kohaku nodded and took off the leather cap with the instruments attached to it and let her hair down just as Kankuro turned back towards her. He froze and stared at her. She blushed when she noticed his stare. "What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?" She said as she started putting her hands on her cheeks and forehead.

Kankuro finally broke out of his daze and shook his head. "No, it's just that you look pretty cute looking like that." He said trying to return back to his usual composure. He figured she would think he was just hitting on her or something. Instead the unexplainable happened.

She half-tackled and half-hugged Kankuro grinning ear to ear, nuzzling his chest. Kankuro never really had much experience with women in this kind of situation, so he hugged her back, a blush barely shining through the paint on his face. She started to nuzzle his chest even as she spoke. "Thank you. Nobody's ever said anything like that before. Everybody always thought I was weird and didn't want anything to do with me."

Kankuro was at a complete loss for words. He just kept his arms around her, having completely forgotten about the medical box he had dropped or the grease and various mechanical liquids on the two of them. It wasn't until her forehead touched him and she yelped that the two finally parted.

Kankuro picked up the medical equipment and pulled out a bottle as well as a couple other items. "Okay, just sit down on the stool over there and I'll take a look okay?" He said. Kohaku nodded and sat down on the stool with a light above.

"Your head's pretty tough, I didn't think most puppeteers were that strong physically." Kohaku said as she twiddled her thumbs waiting. Kankuro rolled his eyes. "Just because we use puppets doesn't mean we are completely incapable of fighting hand to hand. Some of us train ourselves physically more than we do our puppets because most combatants tend to think that same thing." Kankuro explained.

Kohaku nodded in understanding as Kankuro came over to look at her head. "Let's see... Maybe this is a bit worse than most people could do. I guess we're going to have to put something cold on it to keep the swelling down. Do you have any ice packs in your freezer?" Kankuro said as he examined the giant purple spot on the girl's head.

"I think so, do you think... Er... Nevermind." She said as a blush quickly rose to her cheeks. Kankuro noticed this and couldn't let his curiousity stay put. "Do I think what?" He asked. She blushed even redder. "Do you think you could... kiss it better?" At this point she turned beet red and hid her face. Kankuro shook his head with a smile, but the smile faded and he kissed her forehead. Suprised, Kohaku looked up to see him walking towards the refridgerator to get the ice.

She sat there on the stool looking dumbstruck for minutes on end until the reality of it hit and she blushed bright red. "That was the first kiss I've ever gotten!" She whispered to herself as she sighed contentedly while blushing madly. "I wonder if I can have more 'accidents'." She continued as she thought up various plans to try to seduce Kankuro.

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Sakura had gotten up from the table to go to the bathroom after having a few drinks while waiting for their food. "I'll be right back, okay, Lee?" She said. Lee nodded with a grin and said. "I too must use the restroom." He said as he moved his chair out and stood to head to the men's restroom.

After finishing 'business' Lee went to wash his hands and saw somebody walk in. "Greetings sir, I--What!?" He had looked up to see a pair of wide, pupiless, white eyes staring at him. "L-Lee? What are you doing here?" He said, already knowing the answer but needing to ask anyway. "I brought Sakura here for our date, what about you?"

"I brought Tenten..." Was all he said. "Tenten/Sakura did not happen to..." They both said at the same time as both of their faces turned pale. "Oh no."

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"Lee brought you here, too?" Tenten said as she looked at the shocked, pink-haired girl. Sakura nodded. "He even bought me this dress since I didn't bring anything with me to wear." Sakura said as she saw the girl across from her grinning like a cheshire cat. "Neji did the same thing for me! I wonder if they planned on doing this at the same time." She said as the girl across from her grinned.

"So where are you sitting Tenten?" She asked having an idea come to mind. "I'm on the North East side of the building, how about you?" Tenten asked getting an idea of what Sakura had in mind. "I'm sitting on the South East side." She answered and they both grinned evilly. "Would you like some company? Possibly a double date?" Sakura asked. "I thought you would never ask." Tenten replied with a wink and they both left to their respective tables.

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The food had finally come along with drinks that Shikamaru had also put in the bag since he knew she would also be thirsty. He had gone for the tea approach since it would help calm the two of them down some. It would probably help them rest after the morning's events, preferably the troublesome girl who would most likely not appreciate being stuck in bed for the next day or two.

Temari had originally planned to put her hair back up, but could do so because the things she used to hold her hair up had gone missing, probably into one of the nearby drawers. At least she wasn't the only one dealing with hair problems since Shikamaru also had to deal with it since everytime he looked down it would fly in front of his face. It didn't matter though since it wasn't too much of a hinderance.

Shikamaru and Temari had been enjoying their game for a long time, each winning one then losing the next back and forth. "You know, Temari, ever since I've gotten here people have been talking about you and all kinds of things you've done around here." Shikamaru said after picking up the pieces for another game.

"Really? What kinds of things?" She asked wondering how much the boy as she grabbed her cup from the table to get a drink. "Like how you've saved the village once or twice, how you like to train out here every now and then, and how you talk about a guy you fought once in Konoha." At the last part Temari's eyes went wide and she lost her grip on the cup, thankfully Shikamaru was nearby to catch it easily without a mess since the contents had been ingested already.

"R-really? T-that sounds good." She said trying to hide the all too obvious nervousness. "If I'm right, I'm the only person who's ever 'beaten' you, although I did give up at the end of that fight." Shikamaru said trying to act like he didn't know who it was. "If I ever get my hands on Shiro, Kuri, or... well maybe not Yume since she could kick my ass anytime, but if I ever get my hands on the other two they're gonna be stuck in bed for a _long_ time." She said as she came up with one way after another to get back at them.

"How much did they tell you." She asked the young man across from the board. "Enough for me to get the idea, even though I had already figured it out." Shikamaru said. Damn that boy for having a brain. "Okay, so maybe it was obvious I like you, but don't let it go to your head." She warned. Shikamaru already knew that she liked him or maybe even had a full blown crush on him, and that he actually did like her in return damn troublesome emotions, so what the village people had said was old news really.

Shikamaru grinned thinking of a way to take advantage of the moment. "So does this mean you're gonna try to kiss me while I'm asleep?" He said trying to make her blush. It worked for about half a second before she grinned evily. "Who says I haven't already, we've already slept together a couple times, remember?" She said winking at him.

He sighed his usual 'how troublesome' and moved his piece on the board. Temari just grinned while watching him fight off the blush. She reached to move her piece and twitched when she moved into a position her body didn't appreciate. Shikamaru noticed and got up to help her back up. "Don't hurt yourself. I'll do it for you. What piece and where to?" He questioned as he moved his chair so he could move her pieces for her. Her face turned red at the embaressment of needing his help.

"Did I say I needed help, Nara?" She asked angrily. "No, but you needed it anyway, not sit back and answer me." He answered. She grumbled a few angry words under her breath but complied and answered. "Fine, the lance on your right takes your knight." She said as she pulled a pillow on top of her chest and hugged it as she laid on her side. "Are you sure you want to do that? Isn't it going to become 'too troublesome'?" Temari asked.

Shikamaru shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's not so troublesome when I have good company." She stared at him in complete awe. Did he really say that? If not for the fact that she couldn't even get up, she would have hugged him and kissed him right there. As far as she knew, there was nobody else in the world he would have said that about. "It's your turn." Shikamaru said snapping her out of her thoughts. "Um, right, put that bishop down to the top right of your rook."

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**I am sorry for this late late late update, but I am having trouble in real life. Getting a job, helping friends, trying to talk to** **loved ones, and overall getting my inner muse to listen to me for more than five minutes (fickle lil twerp, eh?) For those of you who don't know anything about shogi, I have a link here to a website that has online shogi. I played it for a long time with a silly grin on my face as I beat the computer ten times in a row (BOOYAKA) and had fun with it. Think of it as Eastern Chess. I'm gonna change from weekly or biweekly updates to monthly or three weeks (whenever I get it done) since I obviously can't keep going with the seven to fourteen days thing I asked. I hope you don't think less of me for it. Anyway, I look forward to hearing your reviews, and even your flames (you know somebody desperate when they are even looking from criticism) so write one up when you get the chance, until next time! **

**Online Shogi: www. pathguy. com/ chess/ Shogi. htm**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry I had to increase the time, but sometimes I lose track of time or I just can't find the inspiration, even over a long period of time. If there was something I could do to help fix it I would, but unfortunately I'm not able to just instantly fix my personal motication (sucks, eh?) I do hope you guys like what I was able to write. And sorry to those who didn't read the bold letters and don't get why it's taking so long to update. This chapter is extremely fluffy, so if you don't like fluff to an extent beyond a random hug every now and then, I apologize, but it was inevitable.**

**Disclaimer:**

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd**__** probably abuse that privilege.**_

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Gai had been running around for half an hour straight trying to find Sakura before finally giving up. "Must have left already. I know, I'll pay a visit to my number one pupil!" He said giving the thumbs up to nobody in particular, though he was given weird looks from the people in the lobby of the hotel. This was quickly followed by a march to his and said Jounin's room since he was still confined to the hotel room until he fully healed since his leg kept him from moving around.

"Hello, Lee! I've--Huh?" He looked around the room to see that nobody was there. What he also saw was that there was a set of women's clothes and Lee's clothes folded and set on a bed. "Lee...? He couldn't have... Could he?" Gai said to himself as many less than innocent ideas went through his mind causing the former teacher to blush.

Did Lee actually do what he and Shikamaru were afraid Tsunade would kill them for? He turned pale as the idea of what would be happening started going through his mind. Gai shook away the thoughts and closed the door since Lee and his female companion were most likely hiding if his assumptions were correct. Enough speculating for now, it would be best to let him explain himself later.

"Gai-Sensei?" He heard from behind him as Lee walked up to him from behind with a grinning Hyuga in tow, and an overly happy Sakura at his side. "Lee! I was just looking to see you!" Gai said with a smile as he noticed as he started putting pieces together. "Good Evening Sakura, Neji, and... Lee! Weren't you confined to the hotel room?" Gai asked as he watched Neji walk past the two and was suprised to see that Tenten had been hiding behind Neji so as not to be seen by her sensei.

Gai's eyes widened as he turned back to Lee looking for answers. "Sakura healed me so we could go out on an official date together." Lee said with an excessively large grin. "Neji, too, took Tenten out to dinner at the same time to the same place!" He added. Gai nodded, it was rather unusual for such a coincidence, but stanger things have happened.

Gai seemed lost in thought before his eyes opened suddenly while he was grinning. "Lee, you must tell me what happened! ...After you escort Ms. Haruno to her room that is." Gai said examining the two of them carefully. Lee nodded and led Sakura down the hall to the stairwell at the end of the hall that lead to the second floor.

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This girl was by far the most interesting female he had ever known. She didn't hide it at all, she just openly admitted that she liked him and wanted to be his girlfriend. Most girls would blush and act like it was the most embaressing thing ever or be too stubborn to admit it. Even Temari let her pride stop her from admitting something like that, but here Kohaku was admitting she liked him, even to a point where she was taking the offensive.

She had gone to the bathroom while he was putting the final touches on a couple of the pieces they had recently discovered hidden in his salamander-like puppet. "Well she is pretty cute, she's nice, a lil rough around the edges, but that sounds perfect. She even likes puppets and machinery. She would feel right at home with him... Well she would if not for the whole distance factor. This thought caused Kankuro to sigh sadly.

"Back." He heard from behind him as the side door opened up that lead to the hall that lead to the rest of the building. He turned to her with the usual smile, noticing the smudge from the grease or oil she had gotten on her hands and then onto her face. "Well the puppets are done..." He said awkwardly, hoping she would say something to him.

"Want to go out to celebrate?" She asked him with a grin. Kankuro thought for a second on this one, or rather pretended he was thinking, he had known the answer before she even finished asking the question.

He stalled to build up a little suspense as she inched closer and closer with a hopeful look. "Of course." He said, with little time to catch the black haired girl as she again tackle-hugged him, or 'glomped' him as she called it. If you asked him it was a very good battle technique, especially if you started putting your knees into it which could easily shatter bones.

She wrapped herself around him with her arms and legs practically holding him in a death grip with the hug. "You know, if you keep a grip like this, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get up." Kankuro said as he tried to move to get up with little success.

She blushed and let him go. "So, I know you aren't too young for me, but how old are you exactly?" He asked, he considered taking her to a tavern with him since he didn't have much money on him, and they served nice alcohol to boot. (_**1**_)

"Trying to find out if I'm the legal age to have fun with first?" She said giving him a seductive look. This caused him to blush again for a second before he shook it off and regained his composure.

"No, I was going to say that if you're eighteen you could have a few drinks with me at the tavern nearby." He said in a playful voice. This caused her to grin deviously.

"I'm eighteen, I had my first drink at that tavern, too. I can hold my liquor, too." She said as she grabbed two towels and tossed one to Kankuro and started wiping the grease and such off her face, being sure to be careful around the bruise.

Hm, a beautiful girl who doesn't mind a drink or two, who is crazy about working with mechanics, and doesn't mind face paint. She was quickly turning into his dream girl! His thoughts started to drift through the many possibilities as he wiped the grease off his face as well.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, wow, you look funny!" She said as she pointed at him almost falling over in laughter. He gave her a funny look before looking at his face in a nearby piece of polished metal and burst out laughing too. He had wiped all of the grease and facepaint off of his face and most of his neck, but forgot his chin, making it look like an upside 'T' was leading from his chin to his bottom lip and almost looking like it was leaning into his mouth. (_**2**_)

He wiped it off with a towel before smiling at her again as she recomposed herself. "You look pretty cute without that face paint on." She said as she opened the door to let him through. "You don't look too bad yourself, Kohaku." He said while laughing. She followed him to the front door as he held it open for her and after she locked up the store, followed her to the nearest tavern.

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The two of them had finished their meal and had gotten tired of Shogi as well with the two of them ending with two wins and two losses apiece. Since then they had both been laying down in the bed, Shikamaru had wrapped his arms around Temari enjoying the feel of her warmth. He had finally given in and just accepted everything. It was too troublesome to fight it, and he had practically said it with the dinner, he loved her.

"Shikamaru, do you think one night will be long enough for me to be healthy enough to go with you to the festival tomorrow?" She asked with a hint of hopefulness in her voice.

Shikamaru grinned to himself as he held her close. He shrugged before he spoke, in his natural fashion. "Don't know, we'll just have to get some sleep and find out." He said. The group may have been ninja, but most were still teenagers and even if they didn't admit it, they still thought like teenagers.

Even Shikamaru couldn't help hiding it sometimes, though he was often lounging around so it wasn't overly obvious to anybody around him. Honestly, only Temari had seen it since she had spent more time around him than most, even invading his cloud watching time and more recently, his sleeping time.

She turned her head to look at him and kisses him on the lips, he eagerly returned it without thinking with a light blush. She smiled when the kiss finished and whispered 'goodnight' into his ear before wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes. Shikamaru whispered the same to her but didn't close his eyes.

He waited until he knew she was sleeping soundly before shuffling out of the bed and grabbing some clothes to wear. He left the room as quietly as possible, which being a ninja made extremely easy, and went down the hall to Sakura's room but instead met her in the hall with Lee.

She looked at him with a weird look on her face for the longest time, easily creeping him out since she seemed to be giving him a look he wasn't used to seeing. Lee, however, was less subtle. "Shikamaru! What happened to your hair!" He said as he stared at the top of the Nara's head. Shikamaru mentally slapped himself after he realized he had forgotten to grab something to hold his hair up in the usual style, but stopped himself from commenting.

"Sakura." He looked directly at her with a concerned look, which scared her since she was now fearing she had done something wrong. She quickly went over a list of things she had to do that day but couldn't find a single one that she hadn't already finished. She waited for him to say something but he said nothing.

She sighed and prepared herself for what he was about to say. "Yes, Shikamaru?" She said trying to look as professional as possible in her formal kimono. "I need you to help me with something, but I would like to ask you to keep it a secret from the rest of the group." He said as he kept the stern tone.

Sakura nodded and both Lee and Sakura said their goodnights each in their own way. Him with a hug, her with a kiss. Lee walked away back downstairs to his room with a blush and a silly, dazed look and grin on his face. Sakura herself had a slight blush knowing the two had an audience, but quickly looked to the Nara. "So what do you need help with exactly?"

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Temari lay sleeping in the bedroom, feeling slightly uncomfortable, as if something close was missing. She squirmed but didn't wake up, even as her arms searched for that thing until they finally met skin and pulled it in close to her

She had started dreaming of her children and the father that was with them. She tried to speak, but found that she couldn't. Next she tried to move closer since she couldn't see the faces of the children or the father, but instead found that she couldn't move either. Instead she just watched as the man said something to the children before they went off in the opposite direction to play and the man stand up and walk to her.

She could tell that the man was taller than her and seemed to have a slightly slouched posture, she also noticed that his hair seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He walked up to her and every step seemed to make her feel... happier. She felt worried even as her arms moved forward and reached for him and couldn't help but wonder who he was, until she hugged him and relief and warmth washed over her.

She looked up to see him saying something, but couldn't hear what he was saying. She didn't know what it was, but the words seemed to make her feel even happier and before she knew it he had pulled away from her reach and disappeared, much to her displeasure, but reappeared behind her and held her close causing her to smile again. She reached back and felt his side with her arm and he nuzzled her neck, followed by a kiss to the neck and she felt his voice against her neck before he kissed her again and continued to nuzzle her once more.

---------------_Simultaneously_---------------

The two, Sakura and Shikamaru, quietly entered the room and approached the bed. Sakura approached the bed and started using her medical expertise to heal the top half of Temari's body. Shikamaru lowered the blanket lower and lower as the medical ninja continued downwards. Sakura was too busy with her jutsu to notice a pair of searching hands until it was too late and they were wrapped around her arm.

"Sh-shikamaru!" She half whispered. He looked at her arms and noticed the problem instantly. He changed into his normal bedwear, much to the embaressment of the Haruno girl, and shifted into the bed behind her as Sakura shifted her arm out of the sand ninja's grasp causing her to frown. He hugged her around her back and was pleased when she smiled.

Sakura nodded her thanks and continued the process before replacing the blanket around the two as Shikamaru kissed the wind mistress' neck while Sakura wasn't looking. Sakura smiled at a job well done. "Thank you Sakura, I owe you one." He whispered to her as she left. Sakura waved as she whispered her goodnight and left.

Once Sakura was gone, Shikamaru said his final goodnight and sweet dreams to the sleeping blonde in his arms before kissing her again and holding her close in his arms. He finally fell asleep feeling he had accomplished his goal for the night.

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Tenten sat beside the Hyuga in his room and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry I invited Sakura and Lee to eat with us, I just couldn't resist. Who knew it would turn out for the better in the end anyway?" She said as she hugged him tightly remembering the evening she had spent with him.

"I bet I know what Lee is going to be dreaming about tonight." Tenten added causing Neji to smile at the humor of it. This had definitely been the most interesting night of his life. It had gone from wonderous, to horrible, to incredible in one evening. He just prayed that fate would continue to make this miniature vacation grow more wonderous as it continued. He hugged her and kissed her again one last time before she left and he went to the bed bed.

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Lee came face to face with his sensei who was eagerly asking question after question before Lee could even come up with an answer to a single one. Finally after the first five minutes, or rather what felt like five minutes, had passed, Lee finally began his explanation of the evening and what had happened from the beginning, earlier in that very bedroom, to when he came into the hotel with Sakura and his two teammates.

---------------_Earlier That Evening_---------------

Lee came to the table and noticed the look on the young kunoichi's face and knew what had happened. After a quick explanation from Sakura, Lee nodded and accepted the inevitable in order to please her.

Sakura half dragged a very displeased Lee as they made their way to the table Neji and Tenten had been sitting at after telling their waiter of the table change. They sat down in a semi circle in the corner, the two women on the inside and the two men on the outside. Neji and Lee looked at eachother with dejected looks and nodded understanding the feelings the other had. Despite their usual differences, this was in fact something the two could agree on in terms of possible disasters.

A double date wasn't a bad thing, but Tenten, Lee, and Neji were like family and in a group of three like they were made it awkward when it came to dating, especially since the only things they would be able to talk about are the past missions, and people they knew. This would most likely lead to the more embaressing moments on missions and training with both of the guys unable to come up with something about Tenten out of respect for women.

The women were oblivious though as they began to chat and compare as their companions sipped their drinks and tried to understand most of what the other two were saying, sometimes not being able to hear them because of the low volume they spoke with every now and then.

After a short time the two turned away from their conversation and noticed that their dates hadn't said a word. The two whispered something to eachother causing Lee to lean in to try to hear what was being said, and even Neji strained a little to make sense of the whispering that was audible, but to no avail.

Finally both girls moved away from eachother's ear and nodded before looking to their dates. Lee jumped back some a little afraid of what she was about to do. Neji didn't show any signs, but he was curious about what they had said. Before either knew it, both girls had kissed their dates and hadn't let go until they heard a cough coming from the waiter nearby.

"Would you like your food now or would you prefer to eat later?" She asked as she examined the two couples. "We'll eat now." Tenten said with a smile as Sakura nodded her agreement. The meal and the time spent together afterwards, walking around the village, were filled with many moments when the two couples would kiss and hug while walking together.

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**Ah, finally done. I was having a hard time with this chapter, sometimes coming up with entired paragraphs, other times barely being able to squeeze out a sentence. I don't know if this was my best chapter and am afraid I had messed up once or twice on details and facts since I started working on a new story recently and get confused with different facts circling around my head, but it was fluffy enough in my opinion, with the results from the double date finally being revealed. I know I kinda put alot of people OOC just a lil bit, but I just couldn't help it, some things need adjusting, and after the time they've spent together, things were bound to change to help their relationships come to a head. I hope you enjoyed it, and please review if I made any mistakes (despite the two or three times I ran over the same things for mistakes) or if you just want to say what you thought of this chapter.**

**1****: I know you're saying 'The legal age for drinking is 21' but it wasn't 21 until a 1933 that any suggestions for such rules were made by phohibitionists and even if Naruto is taking place in the present day alongside our time, that rule was made because of multiple nation-wide surveys that would most likely have not happened in that time since there was constant fighting among the many hidden villages. There would be little time for such surveys to be made and also that's assuming such surveys are interesting to that people. I think surveys would go more along the lines of 'Most common jutsu element' and 'Most common causes of death among ninja' than 'Drinking comparison among different age groups'.**

**2****: A sex joke, if that doesn't make it obvious, I'm sorry.**


	12. Chapter 12

**One bad thing happened after another between this and last update. My girlfriend left me because she didn't think she was worth it, my new girlfriend nearly died... a few times, my mother had a heart attack, and various other 'accidents and pains' as well as a new job. But it was not all bad. In that time two babies of very close friends were born (Good luck to both the babies and their mothers) and I got to go to my second convention where I got a nice necklace for my new girl friend, whom I actually made a character after in the story in her honor.**

**Disclaimer:**

_**I do not own Naruto the anime or manga, any of the names assosciated with Naruto, or any thing of that nature. I am simply an over imaginative fan of Naruto, and I'm not responsible enough to be an owner anyway since I'd**__** probably abuse that privilege.**_

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All awoke early, as they were used to doing on a daily basis now. Some earlier than others. Temari was one of those early birds who woke up earlier than the rest having been stuck in bed longer than the rest. She was pleasantly rewarded with that nice warm feeling you get in the morning when you enjoy the nice warm covers and something extra that she couldn't put her finger on.

She started listing off the things one at a time. Early morning so it's not too bright yet, check. Nice warm covers that are as comfortable as a bed of feathers, check. A soft pillow that couldn't have been more comfortable if it was custom made, check. Something warm along her side and back while also draped over her stomach, bingo!

Everything from last night came back to her as she blushed, knowing what was different about today. She turned around so she was facing him and checked to see if he was really asleep. "Hey, Shikamaru." She whispered checking to see if he was awake. A smile spread across her face as she got an idea. She inched closer to his face with hers before she kissed him on the lips and held the kiss for a long time. It wasn't until she stopped the kiss that she got a second idea.

She whispered again to see if he was awake and grinned evilly when he didn't respond. She stripped off what she could while under the covers, leaving nothing but a pair of panties on and curled up against him again, wrapping her legs around him and resting her head on his chest as she went back to sleep. The smile grew as the knowledge that she would wake up when he did came to mind.

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Kankuro looked around not recognizing his surroundings at first before trying to make sense of everything. Last he checked he had gone into the bar and had a drink or two before... Oh yeah, he bought a bottle or two take back to the shop where they basically played a handul of drinking games until she passed out, then he did the gentleman thing and took her to bed, changing what he could without taking advantage of her. Then he took some extra sheets and such and went to sleep in another nearby room.

He stretched as he walked to the bedroom. "Hey, you awake in there Kohaku?" He knocked gently on the door, getting an annoyed groan from the other side. "I need to stop getting drunk like this." He heard her say from the other side as he heard her walk to the door. She opened the door, covered in the blanket she went to bed in and looked at the person in front of her for half a second before her eyes opened wide.

"Kankuro? Did you spend the whole night here?" She asked, he simply nodded. She blushed as she pulled the blanket over her face to hide the blush. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you here all night." She said as she mentally berated herself for keeping him busy all night.

"It's no problem, I had fun." He said as he started scratching the back of his head. "By the way, you're one hell of a drinker. We almost finished the second bottle." He said as he held up the two bottles from the night before. One empty the other with enough to barely cover the bottom of the bottle. "Apparently not as good as you, you beat me, remember?" She said.

He laughed loudly as he remembered the night before. They were playing 'I never' and kept going back and forth getting the other to take shots back and forth. She lost on the phrase 'I never fought more than four people without a weapon and won', which really suprised him. "I heard the fair is supposed to be open today, care to join me?" Kankuro said carelessly, asking it as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Kohaku's eyes got wide again as she tackle-hugged him. "Of course I'll go with you!" She said as she hugged him tightly. "Oh! I have to fix some stuff before they can open though, I'll be right back!" She turned around and closed the door quickly. Kankuro was about to turn around and go get his puppets resealed when he started hearing thumping and as the girl scrambled around her room with the occasional 'ow' when there was an exceptionally loud bumping sound.

She opened the door fully dressed while covered in her different tool belts, headgear, a harness, and even a pair of boots with lil baggies filled with different nuts, bolts, and screws. "Okay, I'll be ready around..." She thought for a second before looking at the clock. "It's only six o'clock A.M.? You're an early bird aren't you? I'll be done in an hour, okay?" She half said half asked. "Okay, I'll be back in half that. I need to let my sister know I haven't been killed, and I need to check on our prisoner."

She perked an eyebrow at that last statement but shrugged it off. "Okay I'll see you in half an hour then." She said with a smile as she left for a room he hadn't noticed before now. He gathered up his sealed puppets, placing them on his back once more before leaving for the hotel.

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Shikamaru had never been in a situation like this... Once he found out he had cried out for a second before covering his mouth, but she didn't move to his relief. What's worse is that he found himself holding her close while he was sleeping. He sighed as he tried to calm himself down, trying desperately to get the fuzzy feeling out of his body and head, from pressing against her the way he was.

Think, he remembered going to bed with her, but she wasn't naked at the time, right? Of course not, Sakura would have noticed. Sakura! Of course, Temari had been in pajamas when she was healed, which means...

He grinned in relief. "Sleep well Temari?" He said directing his question to the girl in his arms. "I knew you were smart enough to figure this out." Temari said as she opened her eyes. "And yes, I slept very well." She said as she cuddled up against him.

"Are you done embaressing me like this?" Shikamaru asked. Temari grinned impishly as she kissed his cheek. "No, I'm comfortable." She answered, burying her face against him as she wrapped her legs around him. "Such a troublesome girl..." He said with a smile as he rubbed her back.

They stayed like this for what felt like hours enjoying the moment together until they were interrupted, too soon for their taste, by a knock on the door. Temari got up to answer the door, using the blanket to cover herself. "Yeah?" She said when she opened the door before turning rose red from the neck up. It was Kankuro.

"Hey Temari, I was just checking in since I didn't return... Last... Weren't you sharing a room with, Nara?" He asked when he saw his sister covered in nothing but a blanket. "Ah, um, yeah, but he went to the clan's house to talk with him about something while I was, er, changing." Temari said coming up with a random excuse. "In that case I'll meet him there since I have to check on Tenzan and that place is on the way to the jail house." Kankuro said.

He turned to leave and before Temari could stop him he was down the hall already going down the stairs. "Damn..." was all Temari said as she walked back to the bed to see a smiling Nara. "Weasel underwear?"

Temari gave him an evil look. "I happen to like weasels, deer boy." Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulders.

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Sakura woke up to find Tenten already getting dressed. "Hey Tenten, what's the rush?" Sakura said as she wiped the sleep out of her eyes. "There's a festival today! Aren't you even a little excited?" Tenten said with a radiant look on her face.

Sakura shook her head. "The fair doesn't open for at least a couple hours." Sakura said as she pointed to the clock on the bedstand. Tenten's eyes widened before she pouted. She was really hoping to get there early in the morning.

Sakura smiled. "If you want we could go get some breakfast and I'm sure Lee and Neji won't mind waking up early." Tenten's pout was replaced with a grin. "In that case get up already sleepy head!"

Sakura smiled as she was pushed to hurry up by the eager Tenten. Even brushing her teeth had been hastened.

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Lee and Gai had been exercising in their bedroom for an hour already, each practicing their personal preference. 'Two-thousand one, two-thousand two, two-thousand three." They both said in unison as Gai did one handed pulls ups with his good arm and Lee did vertical sit ups using the same bar they had set up. They had gotten up early, as per usual habit, and had started excercising, again, as per usual habit.

"If we can't reach three-thousand..." Gai started as they both thought in unison. "Then we will do three-thousand push ups!" Lee finished. "And if we cannot do those..." Lee added. "Then we'll both do three-thousand sit ups!" Gai finished.

They both reached three thousand in unison, Lee pushing Gai to finish his last one as he started having trouble after the two-thousand eight-hundred ninety first push up. "Gai-sensei. I was wondering... How long do you plan on being a shinobi." Lee asked his teacher while they were resting after finishing.

Gai looked at Lee, completely caught off guard by the question. He thought about this hard for a long time, unsure if any answer would be a good answer. "I don't know. To say I'm unsure would be no exxageration. If I could I would stay a shinobi forever. Even if younger ninja were to retire, I would stay a shinobi as long as possible. There's no other profession I know." He said as he watched his student curiously. "Why do you ask, Lee?"

"Time is friend to none. Everybody has a time when they can no longer do what they once did. What would you do if you were forced to retire, sensei?" Lee asked. "Then I would teach taijutsu at the Academy until I am old and senile." Gai said with his nice guy pose. Lee smiled as he thought about how great his teacher truly was. No matter the age he would continue to be an excellent ninja until the day he died.

"What of love, sensei?" Lee asked. In the entire history he had known Gai, he had never had a girlfriend, instead devoting himself entirely to hardwork. Gai's expression changed. "I've had a love once before Lee, it's a wonderous thing, but something not meant for me." He said without elaborating. Lee was about to continue asking when he heard a knock on the door.

"Lee, you there? It's me Sakura." He heard her say through the door. He was out the door in seconds. "Sakura! It is good to see you!" He said as he hugged her tightly. Sakura giggled "It's good to see you too, Lee. Tenten and I were thinking of going around to see the town while we waited for the carnival to open, we knew you would be up and wanted you to come along." She said with a hopeful look. Lee was jumping up and down cheering inside, but kept it inside as he smiled. "I would love to join you, Sakura. I need a few minutes to shower and change, I will meet you in the lobby in five minutes, okay?" He replied.

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"That was strange." Kankuro said as he walked down the halls of the jail to see their prisoner, as was his duty. "I went to the compound, but no sign of Shikamaru, and nobody remembered seeing him... I'll have to ask him about it later." He said to himself as he came up to the cell Tenzan was in as he paced back and forth, looking around the room before his eyes came upon his visitor.

Tenzan glared at Kankuro as he smiled. "How are you Tenzan? Enjoying your stay in the hospitality suite?" Kankuro asked. Tenzan sighed as he sat down on his cot in the jail cell. "Yeah, of course I am, just an everyday regular hoot. All I need now is three women and three pairs of handcuffs to make this really fun." He said sarcastically. "You're in here because it's what you've earned. You know that and I know that." Kankuro said. "Heh, it was worth it. Women, money, power, all the things men want. I could give it to you too if you want, all you have to do is let me go." Tenzan said, trying to bribe Kankuro.

"You just don't get it do you? There are things better than all that. Friends, family, love, honor, and all of the other things that you can never understand." Kankuro said, having had some interaction at least half of those within that very day. "Maybe if you weren't so busy thinking of yourself you would see that." Kankuro said as he glared at the other man. Tenzan simply shrugged, having gotten his fill of annoyance for the day.

Kankuro started growling, but smiled after a second. "You know that once you get to Konoha, stuff like this." Kankuro tapped the metal bars. "Is going to be an everyday thing. And to everybody in Konoha you're a traitor, I'm sure that this will just be the tip of the kunai, they'll probably do alot more, so I hope you had your fun because now it's all going away." Kankuro said, getting his last low blow in before walking away.

"And_ you _know that once I get out of here, I'll skin your sister alive in front of your eyes for trying to take me to Konoha as a prisoner." Tenzan said trying to scare the puppeteer. Kankuro just smirked and continued to walk away as Tenzan yelled hollow threat after hollow threat at his back.

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It had been a while since everybody had gotten to the fair, Sakura and Tenten each wearing a new outfit, with an upbeat Lee and a stoic faced Neji in tow. "Hey! Over here!" They heard from a nearby festival ride. They looked over to see a grease stained Kankuro standing next to an equally messy shorter girl, both waving. The group ran over to see the two on the other side of a gate. "Hey, Kankuro. Why are you in there?" Sakura asked as she noticed looked at the 'Do Not Enter' sign nearby.

"Oh, yeah. I'm helping Kohaku, here, fix up some of the machines before they open up." He said with a smile as he motioned towards the shorter girl beside him. "Wait you haven't met her before. This is Nezumi Kohaku. Kohanku meet my friends. The girl with pink hair is Haruno Sakura and the boy in green beside her is Rock Lee. The boy with the white eyes is Hyuga Neji and the girl next to him is... er... What is your surname Tenten?" Kankuro asked.

All eyes went to Tenten as they awaited an answer. She just smiled and shook her head. "Just call me Tenten." She said with a smile. Her team mates frowned and Lee whispered something to Neji that he nodded to as they continued to listen. "So how did you meet Kohaku?" Sakura asked. "Oh I met her at the local repair shop and..." He looked at Kohaku with a look that said he was uncertain what to say.

"We got to know eachother and had fun." She finished for him as she hugged him around the waist and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. All of them watched in shock as he bent over to return the kiss the short girl. "Is she your girlfriend, Kankuro?"

Kankuro looked up with a shocked look before looking to the girl who also was looking back with the same expression. "Yes. / No." They looked at eachother again. "No. / Yes." Kankuro shook his head as the girl smacked her forehead.

"I think that would be a yes." Lee whispered to Neji who nodded just barely enough to be noticed by his teammate.

Kankuro started an explanation of how they met and some of the things that occured, leaving out some of the more ridiculous or personal moments. "And after all of that we decided to come here together and work on it as a team since it would speed things up." Kankuro said as he finished his explanation. "Wow, that's amazing Kankuro!" Sakura said as she cheered on the purple face-painted man.

"Heh, I guess so..." He said as he rubbed the back of his hooded head. "It's nice to meet all of you, but we have a few last minute tinkering to do, we'll join you later in the picnic area over by the roller coasters in half an hour." Kohaku said as she handed a wrench to Kankuro who nodded in agreement. "Yeah, sorry about that, but we'll be finished soon. See you guys later." He said as he waved them off.

"They seem like fun." She said as she pulled out a wrench from her tool belt. "Yeah they really are interesting to be around, that's for sure." He said with a chuckle. "If you think that's funny, you should see my sister and that lazy Shikamaru kid." He added.

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He didn't know when he had ever more at peace. Sure it was still kind of embaressing, but it didn't seem so troublesome anymore. 'I guess I'm going to get a lecture from my dad about how he was right and I was wrong about women.' He thought to himself. His thoughts kept bouncing around in his head about the woman he was sharing the bed with as they were laying together.

She had snuggled in close to him after they had gotten comfortable once more, savoring every moment she had with him as she rested for the day ahead. "I'm suprised I feel so much better, after getting beaten to a pulp, even with adequate healing I didn't think I would recover so fast." She said, remembering that she didn't want Sakura to waste chakra healing her any more than she already had since she knew the pink-haired kunoichi was low on chakra. Shikamaru shrugged causing Temari to smile at his aloof attitude.

Her eyes drifted from his face to a nearby object as her eyes got wide.

All too soon Temari finally got up from her place on top of him and went to get dressed. "Huh? Where are you going?" Shikamaru asked, missing the warmth. "We have to get to the fair today, you remember, right?" For one of the first times in his life, Shikamaru felt like an idiot. How could he possibly forget the carnival? He had spent most of last night thinking of ways to help her get well enough for her to join him at the festival. He shook his head as he followed suit and got his clothes ready for after the shower, stopping short of the bathroom door when he realized Temari was already inside.

"How troublesome..." He said as he sat back down on the bed and waited for her to come out. "What are you waiting for Shikamaru, get in here!" Every hair on Shikamaru's body stood on end when he heard that. "Well, what are you waiting for?" He slowly inched towards the door and opened it covering his eyes with one hand.

"What are you doing?" He heard her ask. "Open your eyes." He did as she asked to find two walk in showers, one occupied by the wind mistress, the other unoccupied. "Why are there two showers?" He asked as his eyes drifted to the glazed glass hiding the girl's feaures. "Building quirk. This room is smaller than the rest, and due to an error on the inn owner's part they bought an extra stand-in shower, so they decided to put it in here since they never expected many people to use it."

Shikamaru heard the explanation, but he was distracted by the hazed features of the woman in the shower. "Shikamaru? Did you hear me?" He broke out of his trance and walked into the other shower, taking his clothes off and placing them somewhere safe. "Kind of a strange convenience, don't you think?" Shikamaru said as he turned on his shower.

"I don't know, I think he purposely did it actually. At the time, me and Kankuro came out here on many missions and whenever we decided to train. I think he actually personalized this room for the two of us since we're out here so often and we had helped so much." Temari explained. "Mm." Was the response she got.

"Anyway, none of that matters, what does matter is that we have to hurry before everybody starts getting suspicious that we're doing something we weren't supposed to." She said. "But we aren't, so why does it matter?" Shikamaru said. He couldn't see her through the wall that seperated them, but he knew from the silence that she was glaring at him through the wall. "Alright, alright, I'm hurrying." He said, muttering an inaudible 'troublesome' under his breath as he washed as fast as he could.

Getting into the shower wasn't much of a problem since they could get undressed toweled and dressed in the shower. The 'troublesome part', as Shikamaru put it with a blush, was when they both realized that their clothes were still sticking to their skin when they left their room. For Shikamaru he received many looks from women he passed since his shift stuck to his chest and stomach. Temari gave many a woman a death glare for winking at him. The reverse was also true, though. Even with Temari's underwear keeping the shirt from sticking to her chest, Shikamaru had to stave off many men from hitting on her, until the two finally dried off.

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The two stood in the shadows of the alleyway as they watched the couple walk by, examining them carefully for weapons, scrolls, anything that could be used against them while keeping their presence hidden from the crowds passing by. "Nothing. They really shouldn't be so lax, even if they're in town. Oh well, I guess they're going to have to find out the hard way. How are the other two?" The smaller of the two asked.

"They're somewhere safe. Most of the mercenaries were either killed or stopped outside of the village by the clan, so reinforcements are next to impossible." The partner answered. The smaller one smiled. "Guess that means it's our job to rough them up, huh?" The taller one just nodded before pulling her back into the back of the alley.

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_**Hello fans, I have good and bad news. The good news is I'm back and I have a few things I'm going to post, the bad news is... I can't continue this story anymore. I know you're prolly peeved beyond hell about this, but I can't continue it because I have to work on my actual work now. What is this work you ask? It's story writing for a manga. I have the story, and I'm working on hammering details out as I speak. So far I've only gotten two chapters (about 5 books worth, and 2-3 Anime episodes worth) actually done so far. While this may be good to some, this is still nowhere near done since not only is it going to prolly come close to 200 episodes (which is excessive for some) long, but it's also going to have to be rewritten at least once, corrected, plotholes filled, and then I have to work with the artist and my coworker on getting the characters to look right. **_

_**Then I have to make sure the notarized copies are sent to animators to turn it into an anime that looks good visually (my partner is very picky about this since he claims it to be a masterpiece, I don't think so because I wrote it, but then again who knows.) After the writing is done I promise to get back to this (it shouldn't take more than a half year or year) BUT in case I don't... I'll post a simple spoiler at the bottom three lines down.**_

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_**SPOILERS!!!**_

_**Those two sillohuettes (sorry my spelling is off atm) are the Tora clan leaders making sure that the ninja are 'worthy' of the village's alignment with the two villages (send people from their village to become shinobi.) They pass, and while peeved they are okay by it.**_

_**Shikamaru suggests that he wants to leave Konoha, but instead Temari leaves Suna.**_

_**Kankuro brings lil Nezumi to Suna on the way back, but when she's supposed to leave she doesn't and ends up staying with him.**_

_**Lee wins Sakura's heart big time.**_

_**Sasuke is the bad guy waiting for everybody near Konoha (yes a weak plot point, but it's drama for the LeeSaku relationship.)**_

_**Neji tries to avoid getting intimate with Tenten but she ends up getting to him in a way where he falls head over heels.**_

_**Gai is Gai. He does meet a girl his age who likes him before he leaves the village, but nothing else is shown beyond that.**_

_**When Kankuro gets back to sand he notices Gaara's attachment to a certain young female (yes I'll keep from telling you just because it's fun.)**_

_**There was going to be a 5 month time skip at the end, yet again as with my normal tradition meeting at a wedding. Tenten's trying to get Neji to smile, Shikamaru's getting nudged by Temari who's saying 'when will we get married' while he mumbles his usual troublesome, and Lee and Sakura are getting married. Heh sorry it took so long though.**_


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